TotalEnergies defends S African offshore E&P plans

TotalEnergies has defended its plans to develop oil and gas projects offshore South Africa, after environmental activist groups called on it to halt its activities.

The French firm and its partners applied for a 30-year production licence for block 11B/12B off South Africa's southern coast on 5 September, ahead of the expiry of their exploration rights. The block contains the Brulpadda and Luiperd gas discoveries that hold an estimated 3.4 trillion ft³. TotalEnergies has since started a process to obtain environmental authorisation for exploration and survey activities in the Deep Water Orange Basin (DWOB) block, located off the west coast.

The French firm and Shell made two major oil discoveries this year in Namibian waters that highlighted the potential of the Orange Basin, most of which is offshore South Africa.

Last month, France-based ocean protection group Bloom and its South African peer The Green Connection wrote an open letter to TotalEnergies' chief executive, Patrick Pouyanne, asking him "to immediately abandon" all hydrocarbon exploration and extraction projects off the South African coast. TotalEnergies is "actively pursuing a development path that risks the livelihoods of current and future generations of coastal communities," they said. "More than any other entity, [you have] the financial means to [help] make the energy transition to reach the goal of net zero CO2 emissions by 2050."

Pouyanne in response said a full environmental and societal impact assessment will be undertaken, followed by a consultation, as mandated by South African law. He said any environmental protection measures necessary to protect marine life will be defined, and noted TotalEnergies has reduced the scope of the license application by excluding the area classified as a protected marine area.

Pouyanne argued that block 11B/12B will supply gas to the South African market and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions when it replaces coal combustion for electricity generation, and reduce air pollution. South Africa relies on coal for 80pc of its electricity generation, Pouyanne said.

Meeting growing electricity demand is a major concern in South Africa, where load shedding has become frequent and air pollution from fine particles linked to coal burning is common, he said.

"In South Africa, TotalEnergies is positioning itself in accordance with public policy to contribute to the evolution of the country's energy mix as part of a just transition that will require a move away from coal, a sharp increase in renewable energies, and the use of gas as a transition fuel," Pouyanne said.

This is the latest in a series of robust defences by TotalEnergies against criticism from environmental groups. It recently decided to start legal action against Greenpeace over a report accusing the company of significantly underestimating its carbon emissions reported for 2019.

TotalEnergies is the operator of block 11B/12B with a 45pc interest. Qatar's state-owned QP and Toronto-listed Canadian Natural Resources hold 25pc and 20pc, respectively. Africa Energy has a 49pc shareholding in South African consortium Main Street, which has a 10pc participating interest in the block.

By Elaine Mills

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