UPSTREAM PETROLEUM RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT: COMMENCEMENT IMMINENT?

UPSTREAM PETROLEUM RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT: COMMENCEMENT IMMINENT?

• 16 March 2026
• Minerals & Energy
• SA Legal Academy

Regulations to operationalise the 2024 Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act are expected to be gazetted ‘by the end of this month’, according to Mineral & Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe. Addressing delegates at this year’s Southern African oil and gas conference in Century City, Cape Town, the Minister referred to several other imminent legislative developments:

• ‘in the next few months’, environmental regulations pivotal to lifting the long-standing moratorium on shale gas development will be finalised and gazetted
• a draft Petroleum Products Bill released in October 2024 for public comment is being certified in anticipation of submission to Cabinet for approval, and
• ministerial determinations could soon resolve an environmental authorisation appeals-related stalemate affecting ‘offshore oil and gas exploration projects’.

The Minister’s comments followed a recent media statement from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment undertaking to intervene in an appeals process that might otherwise be prolonged by multiple court proceedings.

• Minister’s speaking notes
• Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment media statement

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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