{"id":24154,"date":"2026-02-22T16:30:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T16:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24154"},"modified":"2026-02-22T16:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T16:30:49","slug":"seabed-energy-finds-could-unlock-50-000-south-african-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24154","title":{"rendered":"Seabed energy finds could unlock 50 000 South African jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"textFreeArticle\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1648375?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>J<\/strong><strong>EREMY MAGGS:<\/strong> Now here\u2019s a question: could oil and gas beneath our seabed help fix South Africa\u2019s growth and jobs crisis? There\u2019s a new report that suggests offshore exploration could boost GDP [gross domestic product], create thousands of jobs and strengthen energy security. But here\u2019s the caveat: if done right.<\/p>\n<p>Joining me now is Dr Ross Compton, senior director of global policy at EnerGeo Alliance, to discuss whether this is genuine economic opportunity or maybe simply optimistic modelling. Ross, a very warm welcome to you.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe in simple terms, and let\u2019s start with this: how big could oil and gas be for South Africa\u2019s economy? How much potential is there?<\/p>\n<p><strong>ROSS COMPTON: <\/strong>I think you characterise that correctly. I think there is a big opportunity there, and I think there\u2019s a lot of history to exploration in South Africa that backs that up.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Exploration has been going on since the early \u201970s, offshore South Africa, and then really more in earnest in the last few years, where projects have been able to get to a stage where we can understand what some of that potential is.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Particularly for projects like Block 11B\/12B, and discoveries like Brulpadda and so on, we\u2019ve got a good understanding of the potential that they bring to the fiscus in terms of GDP growth and so on, as well as job creation. So to use that particular example of Block 11B\/12B, where we\u2019ve probably got the best estimates of that potential, we think there\u2019s a potential contribution to GDP of approximately R23 billion annually, which is obviously significant.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read:<br \/>Gas: A key solution to our electricity problems?<br \/>Natural gas is a key solution to SA\u2019s energy crisis<br \/>Key outcomes from the Africa Energy Indaba<br \/>Crunch time as SA industrial gas supply crisis looms<br \/>Gas isn\u2019t a good alternative to coal<\/p>\n<p>In terms of job creation there, it\u2019s around 20 000 jobs within that project alone. Then, of course, as you look to other projects, places like the Orange Basin, where there\u2019s significant derisking from across the border into Namibia, as well as some exploration on the South African side, the overall job creation within the sector could be as high as 50 000 as those projects are built out over time.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a variety of jobs; that\u2019s across the whole supply chain and lifespan of the project. So that\u2019s everything from very technical jobs to some unskilled jobs as well. There\u2019s a lot of potential there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Let me pivot back to jobs in just a moment, but I\u2019ll be a little bit sceptical here. In the past we\u2019ve heard big promises before. What, in your opinion, makes current opportunity different?<\/p>\n<p><strong>ROSS COMPTON: <\/strong>I think that\u2019s really a good caveat there. It\u2019s good to not overpromise and make sure that the delivery is done correctly.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I think what is being done within South Africa as well as across the border is a real focus on ensuring that local jobs are provided. So that\u2019s being built into the regulatory frameworks as much as it is within the governance of the players involved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Some of the international oil companies are seeking very much to work with local suppliers and to build out the workforce using local personnel, and I think that\u2019s really important going forward. But I think this isn\u2019t necessarily about overpromising. I think we\u2019re focusing on those projects where we\u2019ve got the best understanding, and there\u2019s still a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n<p>So to understand that broader potential, it requires further exploration ultimately. Although, as I say, work has been going on since the early \u201970s, there\u2019s a lot more to do. We don\u2019t have full coverage in a lot of areas.<\/p>\n<p>We need modern data, modern geophysical data, to fully understand the subsurface and what the potential is. So it\u2019s really important to get those projects going, to build out an understanding and to build that investment potential for companies to take the plunge.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>You mentioned the jobs trajectory, but how many real jobs are we talking about? And perhaps more importantly, for how long?<\/p>\n<p><strong>ROSS COMPTON: <\/strong>If you think about the lifespan of these projects, it takes some time to get going.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So the early stages of exploration, to be realistic, they don\u2019t provide a great deal of local opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s once you collect that data, you analyse what\u2019s there, you\u2019ve got a good understanding of the subsurface, and companies move towards those next phases of exploratory drilling and then ultimately into production.<\/p>\n<p>Once they\u2019re building out infrastructure and producing hydrocarbons, then there\u2019s a lot more job creation right across the supply chain in supporting those activities, whether that\u2019s offshore, whether that\u2019s onshore and supplying all of the necessary materials and provisions and so on, and of course, transporting those fuels to wherever they need to get to. So there is a lot within that.<\/p>\n<p>The lifespan itself through to decommissioning is anywhere from 25 to 30 years and can be more. That\u2019s a rolling situation all the time as different projects are brought online, and other projects are wound down over time.<\/p>\n<p>So it is a long process. I think the important thing here, to your point on longevity, is to ensure that those skills are transferable, and a lot of the skills within the oil and gas sector in particular are transferable, including building on the supply chains and skills that are already in South Africa. We\u2019re not talking about starting from scratch.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>South Africa has got a long history with mining, for example, and the coal sector. It\u2019s not to say there\u2019s an immediate switch for the workforce, but there are a lot of transferable skills.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Then if you look at the energy mix going forward and the energy evolution, bringing online different renewables projects, whether they be onshore wind, offshore wind, other projects like hydrogen and so on, they rely on a lot of the same skills, whether that\u2019s engineering, whether that\u2019s geology and geophysics, all of those sorts of things.<\/p>\n<p>We are talking about a real injection of skills into the workforce, and I think there is a long-term potential there across different parts of that energy sector, and I do think it should be considered as an energy sector more holistically, rather than just focusing on oil and gas or coal or anything in isolation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>I\u2019m going to finish, and I\u2019ll need a very quick answer. Realistically, and maybe I should have started with this, could domestic oil and gas really bring down electricity costs or fuel prices?<\/p>\n<p><strong>ROSS COMPTON: <\/strong>That\u2019s a hard one to answer, to be honest. I think it has the potential. Yes, it has the potential, but there are a lot of factors to that because it relies on a grid being built out, it relies on infrastructure being built.<\/p>\n<p>But certainly, having that domestic supply has that potential to do so because you\u2019re not reliant on imports and the whims of geopolitical situations and potential supplies drying up and that sort of thing.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, I think it has the potential to contribute significantly to the security of South Africa\u2019s supply and also, being positive for the impact on individuals and what they pay for their electricity in the longer term.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Thank you very much indeed. Dr Ross Compton, senior director of global policy at EnerGeo Alliance, appreciate your time. Thank you.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\">\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n                if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n                n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n                t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '779812924991616');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script>#Seabed #energy #finds #unlock #South #African #jobs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this po&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[3770,815,840,522,14062,278,5432],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}