ExxonMobil Joins Majors in South Africa

Battling declining production, US energy super giant ExxonMobil is taking on South Africa, a rising offshore venue, where it will acquire a 75% stake in the Tugela South Exploration Right.
Exxon Mobil is acquiring the Tugela concession from London-based Impact Oil & Gas Ltd, and will control operations in the area. The Tugela concession covers 2.8 million deep-water acres (6,500 feet) off the country’s east coast. Additional exploration rights tied to the concession cover some 16 million offshore acres.

Exxon Mobil will also have the exclusive rights to study another deep-water area, the 12.4 million-acre Durban Basin for one year, with the possibility to extend.

It’s Exxon’s first foray into South Africa, where it will join the likes of Shell and Anadarko Petroleum. Shell has some 24 million acres off the coast of western South Africa, and is currently collecting seismic data in the Orange Basin, with a drilling decision expected next year.

South Africa has proven reserves of around 15 million barrels, most of which is offshore in the Bredasdorp basin (south) and off the western coast near its border with Namibia. The country also has an estimated 485 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas, primarily in the Karoo Basin, while conventional natural gas reserves are limited and declining.

In terms of refining, South Africa’s capacity is impressive, handling about 703,000 bbl/d, rivaled in Africa only by Egypt. A new refinery is also underway to handle heavy crudes.

The most attractive thing about South Africa is that it’s been under-explored, at least offshore, and under-developed in terms of onshore shale in the Karoo Basin.

ExxonMobil to explore offshore South Africa

ExxonMobil has announced that its affiliate, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production South Africa Limited, will soon begin exploration activities offshore South Africa.

The ExxonMobil affiliate signed an agreement with Impact Africa Limited (Impact), a subsidiary of Impact Oil & Gas Limited, to acquire a 75 percent participating interest in the Tugela South Exploration Right and will become operator. Under the agreement, the affiliate also has the right to acquire 75 percent participating interests in future exploration rights in three offshore areas covered by technical cooperation permits currently held by Impact. These exploration rights and the affiliate’s participating interest in them are subject to South African government approval.

The Tugela South Exploration Right covers approximately 2.8 million acres offshore Durban on the east coast of South Africa with water depths extending from the coastline to approximately 6,500 feet. The future exploration rights cover an additional 16 million acres offshore with water depths extending from the coastline to approximately 9,800 feet.

Separately, the ExxonMobil affiliate also has executed a technical cooperation permit with the South African government to study the hydrocarbon potential of the Deepwater Durban Basin covering approximately 12.4 million acres offshore Durban. A technical cooperation permit is an exclusive right to study an area for one year. The ExxonMobil affiliate can apply to the South African government for an exploration right if it chooses to explore this area further.

Murder Charges Dropped Against South African Miners

Prosecutors provisionally dropped murder charges against the 270 miners who had been accused under an obscure legal doctrine of killing 34 of their own colleagues when the police opened fire on them while engaged in a protest.

The police fired live ammunition into a crowd of about 3,000 platinum miners armed with clubs and machetes while trying to disperse the illegal strike on Aug. 16. When the firing stopped, 34 miners were dead and South Africa was outraged by the bloodiest confrontation between the police and civilians since the end of apartheid. The police have claimed they acted in self-defense.

The outrage grew when prosecutors announced that under a legal doctrine known as “common purpose,” the miners themselves would be charged with murdering their colleagues. Under the doctrine, which was frequently used in the waning days of apartheid to charge members of protesting crowds with serious crimes committed by a few individuals, people in a mob can be charged as accomplices.

In a hastily arranged news conference, officials from the National Prosecuting Authority said that they would await the outcome of further investigations into the shootings, but they did not rule out bringing murder charges again. Prosecutors also said they had not ruled out charges against the police.

South Africa miners charged with murder of colleagues shot by police

About 270 miners were charged with the murders of 34 striking colleagues who were shot by South African police officers. This development has further infuriated South Africans already shocked and angered by the police action. The decision to charge the miners comes under an arcane Roman-Dutch common purpose law used under the apartheid regime, and it suggests President Jacob Zuma’s government wants to shift blame for the killings from police to the striking miners.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Frank Lesenyego told reporters that “It’s the police who were shooting, but they were under attack by the protesters, who were armed, so the 270 accused are charged with the murders” of those who were shot.

More than 150 of the arrested miners have filed complaints that they have been beaten up in police cells by officers, the Independent Police Complaints Directorate reported. The strike, apparently rooted in rivalry between two trade unions, had rock drill operators demanding a minimum wage of 12,500 rand ($1,560) and complaining that their take-home pay was only about 5,500 rand ($688).

Some survivors said many of the miners were fleeing police tear gas and water cannons when they were shot. Police Commissioner Gen. Riah Phiyega has been criticized for saying her officers “did nothing wrong.” She said they acted in self-defense, using live bullets only after they were fired upon and had failed to stop a charge of miners with water cannons, stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets.