A court in South Africa has halted an oil and gas exploration project led by TotalEnergies, saying the environmental assessment for the project was “deeply flawed, failing to address key risks, legal requirements, and public participation,” per a Bloomberg report.
The case was brought in front of the court by a group of environmentalist organizations opposing oil and gas development in South Africa and elsewhere.
The news comes hours after Bloomberg again reported that the French supermajor was planning a major drilling campaign offshore South Africa, featuring as many as seven wells, with drilling set to begin in 2026. The company holds exploration rights for blocks in four offshore areas in South Africa: Deep Water Orange Basin (DWOB), Orange Basin Deep (OBD), Outeniqua South and Block 3B/4B to the east of DWOB.
The report did not specify the block where TotalEnergies planned to drill these wells, but said that a draft environmental assessment for that drilling project was available for public comment until September 10th. The Western Cape High Court, meanwhile, allowed TotalEnergies to reapply for environmental approval of the drilling project that had been halted.
“We have some attractive licenses just across the border and we have actually two or three prospects, and we are working in South Africa, the process to get all the authorizations is quite a little long, but we hope to begin to drill South Africa targets in 2026, from 2026,” TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné told analysts on the company’s second-quarter earnings call last month. The company’s plans for South Africa followed a major oil discovery offshore neighboring Namibia, with reserves estimated at some 3 billion barrels.
Environmental groups have scored a number of victories against oil companies in court, halting projects and canceling drilling licenses on the grounds that these activities would have an adverse effect on the environment and, more recently, on the planet’s climate.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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