South Africa Working on New Oil, Gas Policy to Enable Growth
- Regulation to be separate from mining sector’s, minister says
- Total made country’s first deep-water oil discovery this year
This article is for subscribers only.
South Africa is working on a policy to govern the development of oil and gas resources after calls by potential investors to shield the industry from a long-running debate over laws that apply to mining exploration.
The finalizing of oil legislation has become more urgent since Total SA announced the first significant deep-water oil find off the coast of South Africa in February. Since the discovery, which has an estimated 1 billion barrels of crude reserves, rival Royal Dutch Shell Plc has bought a stake in exploration blocks in the same area from Anadarko Petroleum Corp.