Greens not at peace with Total’s offshore find

Greenpeace has condemned oil giant Total’s discovery of oil and gas off the South African southern coast.

The international conservation organisation claimed it was not something to celebrate, citing the firm’s reckless exploration methods and the danger it posed to the sea.

Some in the country were overjoyed at the discovery of gas and oil 175km off the Southern Cape coast near Outeniqua, but Greenpeace said SA should rather back the renewable energy that it is blessed with.

It also lambasted the South African government for allowing Total to go ahead with the exploration. Greenpeace’s Africa senior climate and energy campaign manager, Melita Steele, criticised the French oil giant for “reckless oil exploration” in the area.

“Discovering yet more oil and gas is not something to celebrate when burning fossil fuels is driving potentially catastrophic climate change.

“This is essentially oil that we cannot afford to burn in the face of extreme weather conditions and recurrent droughts.

“Deep sea drilling is far too risky. The possibility of an oil spill always exists and the environmental impacts of deep sea drilling for oil and gas are too significant to be ignored, with very little benefit or job creation for South Africans,” Steele said.

It was reckless of government to allow oil and gas exploration to go ahead and “unfortunate that it was lauded as a victory at the recent state of the nation address”, she added.

Greenpeace cited a Nasa report showing that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record.

It said the world must make serious efforts to stop the “worst impacts of climate change” and, to do so, fossil fuels must remain in the ground.

“This country is blessed with some of the best renewable energy resources in the world; it’s time to back renewable energy and stop the reckless and dangerous dash for fossil fuels,” Steele said.

Energy Minister Jeff Radebe was upbeat about the oil and gas discovery and expressed hope that, when the operation was in full swing, it would help South Africa deal with the regular fuel price increases it currently has no control over. Radebe said all impediments to the exploration going ahead needed to be removed.

South Africa was also in consultation with other African oil-producing countries with a view to get advice on how to deal with the challenges emanating from such a project.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.