Minister Susan Shabangu on gazetting of technical regulations on petroleum exploration and exploitation
10 Oct 2013
The Cabinet meeting of 9th October 2013 has approved the gazetting of Technical Regulations on Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation. These Regulations will now be gazetted for a period of 30 days for public comment.
The proposed regulations prescribe good international petroleum industry practices and standards, which enhance safe exploration and production of all petroleum (including, but not limited to, shale gas), and will further ensure that petroleum exploration is conducted in a socially and environmentally balanced manner.
When the moratorium on the processing of applications for exploration was imposed by the Department of Mineral Resources in 2011, and subsequently endorsed by Cabinet, a technical task-team was established to investigate the socio-economic and environmental impact, as well as any associated risks of shale gas exploration and exploitation.
The investigation report, which was concluded and published in 2012, made specific recommendations on measures that could be taken to mitigate the environmental impact of petroleum exploitation, with specific attention to shale gas hydraulic fracturing.