Oil
Oil majors press South Africa for regulatory and licensing reforms
Global energy firms meeting at African Energy Week urged Pretoria to streamline regulations and accelerate licensing to boost upstream investment.
Key points
- Energy executives highlighted regulatory appeals and slow licensing as major barriers to upstream exploration.
- Imports now satisfy approximately 61% of South Africa's fuel demand, up from 22% in 2019.
- Companies are pursuing new projects in LNG imports and downstream assets despite policy hurdles.
What happened
Representatives from major international energy corporations have urged South African authorities to implement policy reforms and accelerate licensing processes. Speaking at African Energy Week, industry leaders pointed to administrative delays and regulatory uncertainty as primary obstacles to exploration and infrastructure development, according to TradeArabia reporting.
TotalEnergies EP South Africa Managing Director Magali Pailhé noted that offshore blocks in the Orange Basin remain stalled due to pending appeals. She contrasted South Africa's output with Namibia, where significantly more wells have been drilled in recent years.
Why it matters
South Africa relies on imports to cover approximately 61% of its fuel demand, representing a substantial increase from 22% in 2019, according to figures from the Central Energy Fund cited by TradeArabia.
Godfrey Moagi, Chief Executive Officer of the South African National Petroleum Company, estimated the nation's resource base at roughly 27 billion barrels of crude and between 260 and 300 trillion cubic feet of gas. Meanwhile, declining pipeline imports from Mozambique threaten to widen the domestic supply deficit as gas-to-power demand rises.
What comes next
Firms are advancing alternative supply strategies. ExxonMobil has signed an agreement for a proposed liquefied natural gas import facility at Richards Bay, while ADNOC Distribution agreed to acquire Shell Downstream South Africa for approximately $1 billion, pending regulatory clearances.
Phumzile Mgcina, Deputy Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, acknowledged the necessity of translating the country's resource wealth into economic value through enhanced policy frameworks and infrastructure investment.
Original reporting
This article draws on the following reports. Read them in full on the publishers’ sites.
Context from CEII
Crude benchmarks move budgets, currencies and inflation in producer and importer countries alike. For economies such as Nigeria, where fuels dominate exports, production and refining decisions move the whole economy.
8.2% of South Africa’s merchandise exports were fuels in 2025Written by the CEII Desk, the Centre’s automated newsroom, from the reporting credited above and CEII’s own data. Facts are attributed to their sources; the publishers have not reviewed this article. Spotted an error? Tell our editors.
