{"id":835050,"date":"2025-08-14T14:42:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T12:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=835050"},"modified":"2025-08-14T14:42:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T12:42:43","slug":"huge-blow-for-shell-and-total-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/835050\/huge-blow-for-shell-and-total-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge blow for Shell and Total in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Oil giants Shell and TotalEnergies have been dealt a significant blow in the Western Cape High Court, which set aside the government\u2019s authorisation for offshore drilling.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following significant oil discoveries in neighbouring Namibia, big multinational energy companies have launched plans to drill off South Africa\u2019s West coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the country&#8217;s courts have now set aside the government\u2019s decision to grant environmental authorisation for offshore drilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Total won authorisation to drill off South Africa\u2019s West Coast, it intended to transfer the environmental authorisation to Shell, which would then conduct the drilling.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Environmental groups, the\u00a0Green Connection and Natural Justice, took the matter to the High Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA critical omission, the Oil Spill and Blowout Contingency Plans were withheld from the public until after approval, denying communities the chance to comment on emergency preparedness,\u201d said Shahil Singh, Legal Advisor to The Green Connection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court found that the Environmental Impact Assessment failed to examine the potential consequences of a significant oil spill on local and neighbouring coastal communities, ignoring coastal protection laws.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judge Mangcu-Lockwood reversed the government\u2019s decision, returning the matter to the Department of Minerals and Petroleum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge said that the process to award environmental authorisation was deeply flawed for five reasons:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>No proper study of what a disaster would mean for communities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ignoring coastal protection laws<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Climate change impacts were not properly assessed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No assessment of cross-border harm<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The public was kept in the dark on key emergency plans<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The matter will now require issuing fresh assessments, additional information, and public participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Total will need to issue new or amended assessments that examine the socio-economic impacts of a well blowout on coastal communities before any approval can be reconsidered.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It must also submit the project\u2019s full lifecycle climate impacts, potential cross-border impacts on Namibia, and detailed oil spill response plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new information must also be subject to public consultation before making a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is a significant win for transparency, precaution, and for the rights of coastal communities and small-scale fishers who refuse to be sidelined in decisions that affect their livelihoods and the future of our oceans,\u201d added Singh.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Director at Cullinan Lesai Seema added that the judgment makes it clear that the granting of an environmental authorisation for offshore drilling will not proceed if long-term collective efforts are not considered.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interests of people and other living organisms that depend on the coastal and marine environment will depend on any deal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not the first problem <\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shell-e1754488956579.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shell-e1754488956579-1024x577.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-834199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shell-e1754488956579-1024x577.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shell-e1754488956579-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shell-e1754488956579-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/shell-e1754488956579.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The latest decision is yet another blow for Shell, which recently lost in court over proposed seismic surveys off the Wild Coast in South Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This came following a lack of public consultation on the seismic surveys that may harm the marine environment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Constitutional Court ruled last year that the High Court\u2019s decision to grant the exploration right to do seismic surveys off the Wild Coast by Shell was granted unlawfully.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though these latest court challenges affect its upstream business, Shell will keep this business in South Africa and exit its downstream business, which includes 600 petrol stations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite being the nation\u2019s third-largest petrol station chain after Engen and Astron\/Caltex, reports indicate that Shell petrol stations will soon be sold to buyers from Abu Dhabi or Switzerland.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Western Cape High Court ruling can be found below: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Shell-and-Total-West-Coast-Court-Ruling.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Shell and Total West Coast Court Ruling.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-ca1566c3-4e06-4bd9-9862-abfc01be2e83\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Shell-and-Total-West-Coast-Court-Ruling.pdf\">Shell and Total West Coast Court Ruling<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Shell-and-Total-West-Coast-Court-Ruling.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-ca1566c3-4e06-4bd9-9862-abfc01be2e83\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TotalEnergies and Shell have lost in court, with their environmental authorisation for offshore drilling heading back to the drawing board. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":747688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[23309,23310,2239,10694],"class_list":["post-835050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-green-connection","tag-natural-justice","tag-shell","tag-total"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835050"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835057,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835050\/revisions\/835057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}