In the beautiful gas-powered future envisaged by our “experts”, PetroSA’s epic levels of dysfunction are magically erased. This most pathetic of state-owned entities (recently revealed by amaBhungane to have awarded a contract potentially worth as much as R21.6bn to a now-liquidated football club) is transformed into an efficient, capable, honest arbiter of the country’s gas bonanza.
The technical and geographical difficulties associated with the discovery are also brushed aside. There is barely a mention of the enormous challenge posed by the gas finds lying in extremely deep waters, where currents are fast and strong and the seas often rough and stormy.
Most astonishingly, in this fantasy future climate change simply does not exist. The record-breaking run of all-time high temperatures, runaway wildfires, biblical floods and arctic ice melts is just … gone.
None of the local media pieces on TotalEnergies’ announcement has mentioned the implications of huge new oil and gas extraction for our national greenhouse gas emissions and our international commitment to reduce them.
Not one has made even passing reference to global scientific consensus that there should be no new oil and gas extraction if we are to stand any chance of avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
Taking an alternative view
All that you can ascertain from these reports is that, instead of holding hands and skipping happily into a golden-hued gas future, South Africa is giving it all up and letting our neighbour, Namibia, walk away with the prize.
An editorial in this magazine claimed that “reports have suggested that the oil industry could earn Namibia more than R100bn a year in revenue”.
Oil industry reports also suggested that gas finds in Mozambique would “catapult” that country to middle-income status by 2021. But why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
How refreshing it would be to see our media put forward an alternative view to the one spouted by the oft-quoted oil lobbyists.
A view that at least acknowledges the possibility that the exit of oil and gas majors from our national stage might mean we have dodged a major bullet, and have an opportunity to avoid the fate of countries such as Nigeria and Angola, where oil endowments have supersized a kleptocratic ruling class that cares even less for the poor than our government does.
A view that admits that in Mozambique, the same promise of gas riches has stalled sustainable development, given rise to an unmanageable insurgency and left the population even poorer than it was before the “game-changing” discovery.
A view that conceives of the possibility that we can now forge an equitable, prosperous future for our country, one that is not shaped by the corrupting, malignant influence of the global oil and gas industry.
This article was first published in the Financial Mail on 8 August 2024.
By: Tracey Davies
IMAGE: Getty, Bloomberg
