Cape Coast Gives Oil Drilling Green light to TotalEnergies Despite Environmental Concerns

South Africa's government has granted the French energy behemoth TotalEnergies the approval it needs in order to drill offshore off our Cape Coast, irrespective of a multitude of individuals and advocacy groups voicing environmental concerns and contesting the decision.

This appeal effort aimed to urge Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment, to annul the environmental authorisation awarded to TotalEnergies by the department of mineral resources & energy back in April. Concerns cited by the appealing parties ranged from marine noise pollution and potential oil spills to climate change impacts and improperly conducted public consultations.

Despite the objections, Creecy, in her capacity as appellate authority, negated their concerns in a comprehensive 144-page ruling. Categorically dismissing concerns over light and noise pollution, Creecy was quoted as saying, "the impacts of noise and light have been adequately assessed and mitigated to ensure low impacts on the receiving environment."

Critiques of the ruling have come swift and harsh. One of the appellants, the Climate Justice Charter Movement, said Creecy's decision was “disappointing but unsurprising”.

TotalEnergies, whose areas of interest in the block spans about 10,000 square kilometers between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas, has yet to respond to the incident. The multinational energy company had previously discovered two sprawling fields of gas off the coast of South Africa in 2019 and 2020.