Regulatory BurdenStalledMedium TermMineral Resources and Energy

Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill

Theme: Oil and gas exploration

First raisedMay 2022Last discussedMar 20268 meetings on the record ↓

Generate Brief Compare Feasibility Matrix

Assessment

Growth Impact3/5

Feasibility2/5

Responsible: Department of Mineral Resources and Energy / PASA / National Treasury

Feasibility Assessment

Medium: Bill introduced 2024; Parliamentary passage expected 2025. Fiscal regime design (royalty rates, community obligations) is the contested dimension. Environmental authorisation for offshore blocks remains a parallel process.

Stakeholder Landscape

Who backs this reform, who needs convincing, and which interests or red lines shape political feasibility.

Reviewer

Open review workspace

Backers

1 stakeholders

Negotiation weight

1 conditional actors

Opposition weight

0 opposing actors

Review coverage

0/2

All mapped stance notes are still draft

Provenance warning

Every mapped stakeholder stance for this idea is still draft. The coalition score is directional only until at least the high-influence actors are reviewed.

Coalition Read

84/100Coalition-ready

Anchor: National Treasury. Highest-leverage swing actor: DTIC (Dept. of Trade, Industry & Competition).

Political Tractability

—Needs reviewed signals

No reviewed signals · 0% of mapped influence has been reviewed.

Backers1 stakeholder

National TreasuryCoalition anchordraftInfluence 9/10

Treasury supports the Petroleum Resources Development Bill as domestic oil and gas exploration could reduce import dependency and generate royalties.

Interest: Fiscal consolidation with public debt stabilising below 75% of GDP; structural reforms that improve revenue without expanding contingent liabilities;…

Concern: Unfunded mandates in energy transition (JETP co-financing); Eskom's R400bn+ debt and how restructuring socialises costs; reform proposals that create…

Engagement path: Reforms must be fiscally neutral or revenue-positive over the MTEF window; SOE restructuring must demonstrably reduce contingent liabilities; credible…

Negotiation Priorities1 stakeholder

DTIC (Dept. of Trade, Industry & Competition)Negotiation prioritydraftInfluence 7/10

DTIC supports upstream petroleum development only with adequate local content and beneficiation requirements.

Interest: Industrial policy objectives — local content requirements, beneficiation, BBBEE transformation, SEZ development, and protection of manufacturing emplo…

Concern: Full logistics liberalisation without local content protections could hollow out domestic manufacturing by reducing input costs asymmetrically for ext…

Engagement path: Logistics and energy reforms include localisation provisions and domestic content requirements; trade agreements include industrial policy safeguards;…

Description

The Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act, assented to by President Ramaphosa in November 2024, ends the decades-long legal ambiguity that governed petroleum exploration under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA). The Act separates the petroleum regime from mining, establishing a dedicated framework administered by the South African Agency for Promotion of Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation (SAAPEE). Key provisions include a 20% free-carry state participation right for PETROSA (the state oil company, formerly PetroSA) and mandatory black persons' equity participation in exploration and production rights, modelled on the mining sector's black economic empowerment requirements. The Act covers reconnaissance permits, exploration rights, production rights, and retention permits, providing greater regulatory certainty for international exploration companies. The timing is significant: TotalEnergies, Shell, and other majors have been exploring in the Orange Basin off the Southern African coast, with the Brulpadda and Luiperd fields (operated by TotalEnergies) representing potential multi-billion barrel reserves whose development has been delayed by legislative uncertainty. Gas discoveries in the Karoo and offshore could provide a domestic supply solution to the looming industrial gas shortage.

Brulpadda and Luiperd sit unexploited while SA suffers load-shedding — the UPRD Bill is the key that unlocks a domestic gas future. — TotalEnergies SA, PC on Mineral Resources 2024

Implementation Roadmap

The Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act, assented to by President Ramaphosa in November 2024, ends decades of legal ambiguity under the MPRDA and establishes a dedicated framework administered by SAAPEE. Implementation focuses on the regulations, licensing systems, and institutional capacity required to operationalise the Act and attract investment into the Orange Basin discoveries. TotalEnergies (Brulpadda/Luiperd), Shell, and other majors have been awaiting regulatory certainty; the Act's passage is expected to unlock several billion dollars of exploration and development investment. PETROSA's 20% free-carry and the black equity requirements must be operationalised with sufficient flexibility to avoid deterring investors while meeting transformation objectives.

Publish the UPRDA regulations in the Government Gazette: technical specifications for reconnaissance permits, exploration rights, production rights, and retention permits; SAAPEE licensing portal and fee schedule

Q1–Q3 2025DMRE / SAAPEE

Operationalise SAAPEE: appoint board and CEO, establish licensing division, environmental compliance unit, and community liaison function; transfer MPRDA petroleum licensing files to SAAPEE

Q1–Q2 2025DMRE

Gazette the Black Equity Participation framework under the UPRDA: minimum black equity thresholds, BBBEE scoring methodology, and the carried-interest mechanism for PETROSA's 20% free-carry

Parliamentary record

8 meetings

Committee sittings this reform was drawn from, most recent first. Each row opens the meeting on this site; the PMG link goes to the source record.

Status History

tracked since Mar 2026

Recorded as Stalled when status tracking began — held since at least Mar 2026.
Mar 2026

Data as of 2026-08-24 · latest PMG meeting 2026-08-21