1570 Block 3B/4B Exploration Right EIA

Posted At June 8, 2023
Reports

Project Description

Africa Oil SA Corp, Ricocure (Pty) Ltd and Azinam Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Eco Atlantic) (the Joint Venture Partners of the Block 3B/4B Exploration Right – hereafter jointly referred to as the Applicants) have appointed Environmental Impact Management Services (Pty) Ltd (EIMS) as the Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to assist with undertaking the required authorisation processes (including the statutory public participation), and to compile and submit the required documentation in support of application for: Environmental Authorisation (EA) in accordance with the NEMA- Listed activity 18 (GNR 984). Additional listed activities and/or water uses may be identified during the process. 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. The Applicants are the holders of an existing Exploration Right for Block 3B/4B in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (No. 28 of 2002 – MPRDA), as amended. The licence block covers an area of approximately 17 851 km² and is situated between latitudes 31°S and 33°S on the continental shelf in water depths ranging from 200 m to 2 000 m.

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, the applicant 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.

Public Participation

As a potential interested and affected party, you are invited to 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.