Shell Plc is challenging a court decision that overturned the environmental permit for an oil exploration block off the west coast of South Africa, escalating an ongoing battle between explorers and environmental groups in the country. The oil giant is appealing alongside the South African government against a decision by the Western Cape High Court to set aside the environmental impact assessment for Block 5/6/7, a license previously held by TotalEnergies.
South Africa estimates that as much as $1.6 billion of investments have been stopped by legal challenges from non-governmental organizations, according to Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum Gwede Mantashe, who addressed parliament on the issue last month. Shell argued in an emailed statement that the High Court judgment misinterprets the National Environmental Management Act, imposes practical and operational constraints outside of the Act, and incorrectly expands the scope by conflating exploration with production.
The appeal was heard on October 16, and a judgment is expected in the next few weeks, according to Green Connection, one of the environmental groups involved in the case. Both Shell and TotalEnergies are ramping up preparations to drill in South Africa following discoveries across the maritime border in Namibia that have transformed the area into one of the continent’s exploration hotspots.
Shell is also awaiting a separate judgment in South Africa’s top court over exploration activity halted off its Wild Coast project along the Indian Ocean.
Source: worldoil.com