Centre for Environmental Rights – Advancing Environmental Rights in South Africa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: 07 November 2024 

Cape Town, South Africa — On 29 October 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa assented to the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill, marking the transition of the Bill to an enforceable law now known as the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act 23 of 2024) (the UPRDA).  

The UPRDA marks the separation of the regulatory oversight of petroleum resources from that of mineral resources, both of which previously fell under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA). This separation sets the stage for a new regulatory framework dedicated solely to the upstream petroleum industry. 

The establishment of a specific regulatory framework for the upstream petroleum sector is welcomed, however there are significant deficiencies in the UPRDA that will create legal uncertainty.  

The first of these is the focus on the exploitation of fossil fuel while negating any reference to the country’s climate change commitments. An express objective of the UPRDA is to accelerate oil and gas exploration several provisions are contained in the UPRDA to reach this end. Given the global warming impacts of oil and gas exploitation, this objective renders the UPRDA blind to the climate emergency.

It is common cause that accelerating oil and gas exploitation will have major ramifications for South Africa’s greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement, to which the country is a signatory. This UPRDA gives no caution to social and economic welfare of affected parties and communities. The extraction of minerals and petroleum brings a heavy burden on local communities who carry the adverse impacts there such as environment degradation, further strained access to water and a decreased in water quality, air pollution, reduced health and well-being and land rights impacted through sometimes forced resettlement. 

The UPRDA contains no Social and Labour Plan (SLP) framework, it does not  contain any mechanisms  aimed to address the negative socio-economic impacts on communities who are local to, and arguably most affected by, the extraction of oil and gas that the UPRDA will regulate. As it is, The UPRDA will only serve to further entrench poverty and allow rampant exploitation by the extractives industry. It goes against the principle of sustainable development.    

Notably, the UPRDA introduces a new and enforceable petroleum right that will allow exploration and production under a single license – effectively creating a conflict with existing regulatory frameworks such as the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) . 

Lisa Makaula, from the Green Connection, says “The Green Connection is deeply disappointed that the President has signed the UPRDB into law, despite valid concerns from Civil society and coastal communities being raised. This act would mean an acceleration in oil and gas production in the face of climate change. While SA has committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris agreement, the signing of this Act is in direct contrast to our UNFCCC commitments.  

The Centre for Environmental Rights submitted comprehensive comments addressing these and other concerns. Regrettably, these were not addressed in the version of the Bill passed by the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. 

The aforementioned concerns were also put before President Ramaphosa in a petition signed by several civil society organisations, urging him not to sign the Bill into law. 

South Africa has now entered a new dawn in terms of the legal entrenchment of its budding  gas industry. The law in this regard, however, remains heavily flawed. 

 [ENDS]

For more information contact

[email protected]