‘Good for the climate and biodiversity’, ‘bad for the country’s economy which will remain poor’: TotalEnergies’ withdrawal from two South African gas projects, announced today, is causing backlash from conservationists environment and oil sector analysts.

But all agree that the French hydrocarbon giant’s decision to exit promising deepwater gas fields is highly symbolic of the future of the entire oil and gas sector and the ongoing energy transition.

TotalEnergies is exiting the 11B/12B exploration block located off the southern coast of South Africa, where two major gas discoveries have been made, one at Brulpadda and one at Luiperd, 175 km offshore.

“TotalEnergies has also decided to exit the offshore exploration block 5/6/7,” in which TotalEnergies subsidiary EP South Africa “retains a 40% interest,” the group added in a statement today.

The French group cited the “difficulties it encountered to develop and exploit” “in the South African market” two gas discoveries made there to justify its exit.

These decisions are “a blow to South Africa, which intended to use this natural gas to generate more electricity” and reduce its dependence on coal, writes the specialist website Moneyweb.

“South Africa has lost its ability to monetize its natural gas and will remain a poor country,” said Thierry Bros, an independent oil and gas analyst. As he pointed out, TotalEnergies was in danger of not capitalizing on its heavy investment given the technical and financial difficulties it faced.

Analysts mainly cite the failure to reach an agreement on a gas price between TotalEnergies and the national oil and gas company PetroSA.

Indeed, since Magellan, in the open waters of South Africa, all sailors talk about the violent sea currents and difficult weather conditions. An oil or gas exploitation would require extraordinary investments.

Block 11B/12B covers an area of ​​19,000 square kilometers, with water depths ranging between 200 and 1,800 meters. TotalEnergies has a 45% stake through its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP South Africa, along with Qatar Petroleum (25%), CNR International (20%) and the South African consortium Main Street 1549 (10%).

The Brulpadda gas field development project drew the ire of environmental NGOs in October 2022.

The Bloom organization and the South African NGO The Green Connection had specifically denounced “South Africa’s deep-water drilling operations” that could threaten “small-scale fishers and an amazing biodiversity”.

This area is a very important place for the migration and reproduction of marine mammals such as whales and other cetaceans.