Another in West Coast Barrage of Well Drilling applications – Please register for Block 3B/4B

The West Coast is experiencing unprecedented and unacceptable mining/extractavist pressures. Please see how many other current offshore mining applications there are in the map below, which should be sending up red flags for repeated, persistent and cumulative exposure impacts to the marine animals and environment of traumatic noise and a long list of drilling toxins, creating compounding effects of multiple abiotic and biotic stressors. Not least of the concerns is the risk of well blow-outs, which would devastate coastline livelihoods and food security.

Africa Oil SA Corp, Ricocure (Pty) Ltd and Azinam Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Eco Atlantic) are the Joint Venture Partners of the Block 3B/4B and are applying for environment authorisation for exploratory drilling . They are describing the purpose of the project as “reprocessing”, which when queried by ONO, was confirmed as referring “to the use of previous data gathered about the site through previous surveys. The proposed project entails the drilling of an initial exploration well within the application area, and up to 4 additional wells depending on the results of the initial well.”

The application for environmental authorisation is for the NEMA- Listed activity 18 (GNR 984): “Any activity including the operation of that activity which requires an exploration right as contemplated in section 79 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002), including — (a) associated infrastructure, structures and earthworks; or (b) the primary processing of a petroleum resource including winning – mineral winning means any digging, tailing or bore-hole according to the first paragraph of this article or exploiting any mineral deposit by all methods, with the aim of extracting a mineral, including searching and discovering within a mineral body – extraction, classifying, concentrating or water removal; but excluding the secondary processing of a petroleum resource, including the beneficiation or refining of gas, oil or petroleum products in which case activity 5 in this Notice applies.”

Block 3B/4B is located approximately 120 km west of St Helena Bay and approximately 145 km south-west of Hondeklip Bay off the West Coast of South Africa. The area of primary interest is in the north of this block, but this could also cover other areas in future. As part of the process of applying for the Exploration Right, Africa Oil SA Corp, Ricocure (Pty) Ltd and Azinam Limited undertook and completed the reprocessing project covering 2 000 km2, which is a subset of the 10 000 km2 BHP/Shell 3D seismic datasets, focussed primarily on the most northern portion of Block 3B/4B.

Additional listed activities and/or water uses may be identified during the process.

The licence block covers an area of approximately 11 100 km2 and is situated between latitudes 31°S and 33°S on the continental shelf in water depths ranging from 200m to 2000m.

Environmental Impact Management Services (Pty) Ltd (EIMS) is appointed as the Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to assist with undertaking the Environmental Authorisation (EA)

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process will be undertaken in terms of Chapter 6 of the EIA Regulations, 2014 (GNR 982) promulgated under the NEMA (as amended). A Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process will be followed. In accordance with Chapter 6 of the EIA Regulations, a public participation process will be undertaken.

As a potential interested and affected party, please register and comment on the project. In order to ensure that you are identified and registered as an Interested and Affected Party and that your comments are captured, please submit your name, contact details, the reason for your interest or any comments, in writing or telephonically, to EIMS. Please note that only registered I&AP’s will be directly informed of future project information and opportunities for participation. In order to avoid missing out on opportunities for public participation please submit I&AP registrations, or any queries, comments, or concerns with regards to this application, as soon as possible to EIMS.

Contact Person: Lucien James
EIMS Reference Number: 1570
Postal Address: P.O. Box 2083; Pinegowrie; 2123 Telephone: (011) 789 7170/ Fax: (086) 571 9047 E-mail: block3b4b@eims.co.za

Additional documentation is available on the EIMS website at the following link:

EIMS Website: https://www.eims.co.za/2023/06/08/1570-block-3b4b-exploration-right-eia/

EIMS Website Datafree: https://eims.datafree.co/2023/06/08/1570-block-3b4b-exploration-right-eia/

Please include the project reference number 1570 in all correspondence.

ONO received this information on the 12th of June 2023.