{"id":48188,"date":"2026-10-16T11:06:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T09:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=48188"},"modified":"2026-10-16T11:11:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T09:11:36","slug":"sa-dismisses-appeals-against-exploration-in-totalenergies-block-3b-4b","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-dismisses-appeals-against-exploration-in-totalenergies-block-3b-4b\/","title":{"rendered":"SA dismisses appeals against exploration in TotalEnergies Block 3B, 4B"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>South Africa&#8217;s (SA) Environment Minister has dismissed a challenge \u200blodged by conservationists against an environmental authorisation to allow \u200cexploration in TotalEnergies-operated Block 3B, 4B off the country&#8217;s West Coast.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The decision by Environmental Affairs Minister David Maynier, dated October 13 and \u200bseen by\u00a0<em><span class=\"x_spanWithBackgroundColor\">Reuters<\/span>,<\/em> is the latest in a series \u200bof appeals and court actions that have stymied oil \u2060and gas exploration in Africa&#8217;s largest economy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Some 47 individuals \u200band environmental organisations, including Greenpeace Africa, appealed to overturn a \u200b2024 decision by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources allowing up to five exploration wells to be drilled in the block.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The \u200benvironmental authorisation was granted to Africa Oil SA Corp, \u200bRicocure Limited and Azinam Ltd, with TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy later taking up \u200cparticipating \u2060stakes.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Maynier dismissed all the appeals but imposed some conditions on the grounds of appeal dealing with assessments of food security and livelihoods of coastal communities.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Under SA law, any \u200bparty unhappy \u200bwith his decision \u2060can apply to a court to have the decision judicially reviewed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>TotalEnergies welcomed the decision \u200band said it will work with authorities \u200bto ensure \u2060compliance, including on environmental monitoring and marine protection.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14411,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-48188","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Minister dismisses challenge to TotalEnergies exploration permit","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48190,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/48188\/revisions\/48190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=48188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}