Fears that oil giant’s plans for SA could harm coast
IF AMERICAN petroleum giant ExxonMobil has its way, the coast of KwaZulu-Natal will be at the heart of an economic boom from early next year.
The Texas-based company has plans to explore for oil off the shores of Durban, and said this would jump-start the local economy by creating jobs in the oil sector – although it was well aware of the ecological and other challenges this would present.
But its plans to turn South Africa into an oil and gas global hub could be thwarted by environmentalists, who believe the company could destroy the ecosystem of the area and have a negative impact on commercial fishing.
The exploration plan follows the decision by the Petroleum Agency of SA to grant a technical co-operation permit to ExxonMobil’s South African-based subsidiary in December 2012.
Zakithi Zama, the corporate affairs manager at ExxonMobil, said one of the reasons for Africa’s lack of development was energy shortages, mainly owing to a lack of infrastructure and direct foreign investment in the continent’s resources.
ExxonMobil plans to start a three-year exploration over a massive 50 000km area next year.
The exploration zone stretches from Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape to Richards Bay, at seawater depths of up to 3.6km.
At its closest point, says ExxonMobil, the exploration area is about 50km off the coastline, stretching almost 400km out to sea.
While Exxonmobile has not committed to specific details on the benefits of exploration, the company drummed up job creation in its draft report.
“This will benefit the country and its people through additional government revenue, job creation, security of supply for South Africa’s oil and gas products and make a contribution to economic growth,” the draft report said.
Zama said she hoped that after engagement, the public would see the benefit of exploration in their areas.
She said they were mindful of the environment wherever their activities would take place.
Before exploration can start, ExxonMobil has to submit an environmental management programme to the government, and has set aside more than R100 million to manage or rehabilitate any potentially negative impact during exploration.
A draft environmental management plan for the project suggests that ExxonMobil’s decision to explore this area indicates a strong likelihood of exploring further sources of oil and gas off South Africa.
Several other companies have also applied for exploration permits off KZN over the past few years, including local giant Sasol.
However, unlike previous and current exploration, based mainly on 2D seismic surveys, ExxonMobil is considering more sophisticated 3D and multibeam sonar surveys, robotic submarine scanning, aircraft fly-overs, sediment core sampling and temperature measurements of the seabed.
“Current interest in exploration in South Africa by experienced international exploration companies, in the face of a competitive market for exploration acreage, indicates that the potential exists in the South African off-shore for commercial oil and gas discoveries,” says the company.
The draft environmental management plan for ExxonMobil acknowledges the impact on giant squid as a result of seismic surveys.
Internal injuries and disintegrated muscles are believed to be the result of rising to the surface too quickly.
The study also acknowledges that some fish showed measurable behaviour changes as far as 5km away from seismic sound blasts and reported that some whale species were likely to suffer hearing damage.
As a result, the consultants have recommended that ExxonMobil used a “soft start” procedure in which the sound from seismic airguns is ramped up slowly to full volume, to allow time for fish and other creatures to flee the survey area.
The exploration could also cause disruption to deep-sea commercial fishing for tuna, swordfish and sharks as the ExxonMobil seismic survey vessel would be towing a 1.2km-long array of airguns that blast sound waves of around 220 decibels to the ocean floor to build up a 2D or 3D map of the seabed.
In September last year, ExxonMobil South Africa’s general manager, Russ Berkoben, represented his company before a parliamentary committee during a hearing on the proposed amendment to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
The company expressed concern at the government’s intention to have two local directors appointed to its board to monitor compliance.
In December 2012, the company warned that future results, including resource recoveries and project plans, costs and timing could differ materially owing to changes in long-term oil and gas price levels or other factors such as regulatory approval, political or legal developments.