Shell Block Northern Cape Ultra Deep Exploration Drilling ESIA, West Coast, South Africa

Shell Offshore Upstream South Africa B.V. (Operator) and its Joint-Venture (JV) partners jointly hold an Exploration Right for Licence Block Northern Cape Ultra Deep (NCUD). The Operator is applying to undertake exploration and appraisal activities within Licence Block NCUD. The proposed activities within Licence Block NCUD include drilling up to 5 exploration and/or appraisal wells, vertical seismic profiling (VSP), well testing, plugging and abandonment of wells and associated geophysical surveys.

Block NCUD is located off the West Coast of South Africa, roughly between Port Nolloth and Saldanha Bay. The Block is approximately 300 km offshore, in water depths between 2 500 m and 3 200 m. The Area of Interest for drilling is approximately 5 254 square kilometres in extent.

Prior to the commencement of the Proposed Project, an Environmental Authorisation in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014, (GN R 982 of 2014), promulgated under the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (No. 107 of 1998) from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is required.

SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SLR), an independent firm of Environmental Assessment Practitioners, has been appointed by Shell to manage the environmental authorisation processes.

Status

The Draft ESIA Report forms part of the Impact Assessment Phase of the ESIA process and has been compiled by SLR. The Draft ESIA Report is available for a 30-day public review and comment period from 11 November to 13 December 2024. This provides an opportunity for I&APs to comment on any aspect of the proposed project and the potential impacts and findings as presented in the ESIA Report. A full copy of the report as well as a Non-Technical Summary is available for download below.

To register as an I&AP and comment on the Draft ESIA Report, please contact SLR using the details provided above. For comments to be addressed and included in the Final ESIA Report, comments should reach SLR by no later than 13 December 2024.

Public Open Days are being held in 11 locations on the West Coast from 18 to 29 November 2024 to provide an overview of the project proposal and findings of the ESIA process, as well as provide stakeholders a further opportunity to comment. An online public meeting will be held on 4 December 2024. Please refer to the Notification Letter or Draft ESIA Report below for Public Open Day and meeting details.

Your attention is also drawn to the availability of additional information on all previous administrative decisions related to this licence to ensure all I&APs are fully informed of such decisions.

By providing your personal information to submit a comment, you will be included in the SLR an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) database, and you consent to SLR managing your information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. It is assumed that as an I&AP for this Project you authorise SLR to retain and use your Personal Information as part of a contact database for this and/or other Social and Environmental Impact Assessments (ESIA) and that you confirm your acceptance for SLR to contact you regarding this and/or other ESIA processes. SLR will not process your Personal Information, other than as permitted or required by ESIA processes, or as required by law or public policy. SLR will use reasonable, appropriate security safeguards to protect Personal Information, and to reasonably prevent any damage to, loss of, or unauthorised access or disclosure of Personal Information, other than as required for ESIA processes or as required by any Law or public policy. You may request for your Personal Information to be deleted from the I&AP database at any time by contacting SLR.