Environmental activists are set to lock horns with petrochemical giant Sasol and their partners in a meeting over proposed oil and gas exploration off the South African coast.
Sasol Africa and Eni‚ an Italian oil and Gas corporation‚ are collaborating in a project to explore for oil and gas along the KwaZulu-Natal coast‚ hoping to locate massive reserves beneath the seabed.
This project falls under the umbrella of the state’s Operation Phakisa‚ which aims to tap into the economic potential of South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
One of the many objectives of Operation Phakisa is to locate and drill a target of 30 exploration wells before 2024.
Desmond D’sa‚ of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance‚ said that news of the exploration spelled doom for subsistence fishing communities and the coastal tourism sector.
This process‚ he claimed‚ was being done on the quiet.