South Africa’s Constitutional Court has blocked Shell from reviving its offshore oil and gas exploration programme on the country’s 250-km Wild Coast by reinstating an order that set aside the exploration right and its renewals, according to South Africa’s Constitutional Court.
The August 14 ruling overturned a 2024 Supreme Court of Appeal remedy that had kept the disputed right alive while a third renewal application was considered.
Impact Africa Limited applied for the exploration right in 2013. It was granted on April 29, 2014 and renewed in 2017 and 2021. In June 2021, the government approved the transfer of a 50% participating interest to Shell, which on October 29, 2021 gave notice that it intended to begin a 3D seismic survey.
The Makhanda High Court later set aside the right and renewals after finding, among other defects, that affected communities had not been meaningfully consulted and that relevant environmental, cultural, livelihood and climate considerations had not been properly taken into account.
Justice Jody Kollapen, writing for the majority, said defects in the original process could not be cured more than a decade later through a renewal procedure.
The companies had spent about R1.1bn ($68.1m) on the project. “Any other remedy would allow financial investment to outweigh grave constitutional violations,” Kollapen wrote.
The ruling ends the companies’ ability to use the existing 2013-2014 process to restart the Wild Coast programme. It is not a permanent ban on future applications: if the offshore moratorium imposed in 2018 is lifted or successfully challenged, they may apply afresh for a technical co-operation permit on the same basis as other applicants.
Shell Exploration and Production South Africa B.V. and BG International Limited were the Shell entities before the court.
Shell plc is a global energy and petrochemicals group that has operated in South Africa since 1902 and has more than 500 service stations in the country, alongside retail and commercial fuels, lubricants, aviation, marine, manufacturing and upstream activities.
Impact Africa Limited is the company that applied for the Wild Coast exploration right and was granted the initial technical co-operation permit before seeking the 2013 exploration right.