SA clams up on its hunt for oil in world’s largest animal migration corridor

Millions of antelope migrate through the wetlands and grasslands of South Sudan every year in a global wildlife spectacle that outshines the more famous wildebeest and zebra migration of East Africa.

Whereas the Serengeti-Mara migration in Tanzania and Kenya involves around 1.3 million wildebeest and several hundred thousand zebra and gazelles, the annual Great Nile migration in South Sudan boasts between five and seven million antelope, including species such as kob, tiang, gazelle and reedbuck.

It is the “largest known land mammal migration on Earth” according to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), a United Nations conservation treaty to safeguard the world’s fast diminishing migratory species.

A wave of white-eared kob on the move during the Great Nile Migration in South Sudan. (Photo: David Simpson)

And yet it is here — in the very heartland of this spectacular animal migration route and Africa’s largest wetland (the Sudd) — that the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC) is hoping to strike oil and to also support the development of new petroleum refineries and export pipelines at a potential cost of up to $1-billion (more than R18-billion).

Project maps depict a three-phase exploration process that could lead to production wells, pipelines, refineries and other infrastructure located within the Badingilo National Park and large areas of riverine and grassland habitat used by animals circuiting between the Boma, Shambe and Gambella national parks.

Last year, contractors were also invited to bid on redrilling an old oil exploration well in the Jonglei region. It was abandoned in 2007 after the drilling equipment got stuck 2,200m underground at Kedelai, in the environmentally-sensitive floodplain of the White Nile River.

Left map: South Africa’s Block B2 oil exploration block lies in the centre of the migration route for white-eared kob, tiang and other antelope species moving between the Badingilo, Boma and Gambella national parks. (Map: GIUM) Right map: Oil exploration has been split into three phases by the Strategic Fuel Fund. (Map: SFF)

The more recent exploration project is part of an agreement between the South Sudan government’s Nile Petroleum company and South Africa’s Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) — now part of the newly established SANPC.

Various feasibility studies and exploration projects have been rumbling on behind the scenes since former energy minister Jeff Radebe announced in 2019 that South Africa and South Sudan had signed an exploration and production sharing agreement and were engaged in talks to set up a 60,000 barrel per day refinery to supply oil products to the local market in South Sudan, as well as to secure exports to Ethiopia and other neighbouring countries.

A government media release at the time stated that the SA Department of Energy had “pledged to invest $1-billion into South Sudan’s petroleum industry, with the aim of securing affordable energy supplies for South Africa”.

That announcement came shortly before High Court Judge Owen Rogers found that attorney and former acting SSF chief executive Sibusiso Gamede had been paid more than R2,6-million in bribes by companies in Dubai and elsewhere for his role in facilitating the sell-off of South Africa’s strategic stock of 10 million barrels of crude oil early in 2016.

Radebe attempted to backpedal swiftly on the potentially massive costs of the South Sudan venture after the Sunday Times published a news article in March 2019 under the headline: “Jeff Radebe's dodgy $1bn oil deal”.  

In response, Radebe issued a detailed statement in which he said: “The stated $1-billion is the estimated cost of the full project including the oil block, pipeline and refinery, which will be spread over a period of 10 years.  A project of this magnitude passes through various phases of approval and execution.”

The White Nile River and the Sudd region form part of Africa’s largest wetland, nominated as a World Heritage Site. (Photo: Marcus Westberg)

Recalling the ANC’s historic relationship with the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army in fighting for their respective political liberations, Radebe said that the $1-billion was just “an indicative figure at this stage.

“As with similar projects of this nature, upon completing the feasibility study, the project has a potential to attract other strategic partners and/or investors, which may include South Sudanese and South African companies.”

Read Radebe’s full response to that article here.

Daily Maverick has requested details of the state entity’s total expenditure in the South Sudan exploration venture over the last six years, but SANPC spokesperson Jacky Mashapu did not provide any figures.

Daily Maverick also requested copies of any environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) reports on the exploration project, at least one of which was commissioned by the SFF, but Mashapu asserted that these reports were “confidential”.

And the SFF declined to provide any details of a recent agreement it signed with the British-based Wildcat Petroleum group (which published a statement though the London Stock Exchange on 20 March confirming that it had signed a collaboration agreement with the SFF to “evaluate” the South Sudan petroleum assets recently relinquished by the Malaysian multinational oil and gas company Petronas).

The logo of the Wildcat Petroleum group. (Source Wildcat Petroleum website)

In a brief statement in August 2024, Petronas attributed its decision to bail out of South Sudan to long-term investment strategies “amid the changing industry environment and accelerated energy transition”.

But Wildcat chairperson Mandhir Singh hailed the new deal with South Africa as “excellent news for Wildcat in its endeavours to secure a deal in South Sudan.

“A tie-up with the SFF can only enhance Wildcat opportunities as the SFF is one of only a handful of companies that has successfully signed a petroleum deal in South Sudan since the country gained independence. They have a well-established technical team in Juba which can assist Wildcat in any technical work it needs to conduct.”

However, Mashapu said the Wildcat deal was subject to a non-disclosure agreement and “as a result, we cannot disclosure [sic] anything for now.”

Regarding our request for a copy of the environmental and social impact report, Mashapu stated: “The report is confidential and as it is yet not published by the Ministry of Petroleum (MOP), South Sudan, on their website, hence the content cannot be provided for any publication and use.

Part of the massive herds of tiang antelope in Badingilo National Park in South Sudan. (Photo: Marcus Westberg)

“The study and analysis of samples (for the first phase of the exploration project) is completed and results were presented and approved by our partner, Nilepet. The communication is being sent to MOP South Sudan to provide us a time slot suitable so the team can present and submit the report to MOP for public consultation and approval.”

(South Sudan’s petroleum minister, Puot Kang Chol, was arrested two months ago, while Vice-President Riek Machar was also placed under house arrest after being accused of plotting rebellion against long-time political rival President Salva Kiir.)

Political rivals Vice-President Riek Machar (left) and President Salva Kiir shake hands at a ceremony in 2019. (Photo: Stringer / EPA-EFE)

No details are available on who conducted the impact assessment study or how much it cost, though the South African taxpayer-funded SFF advertised the contract in October 2023, stating that tender documents could be downloaded from the National Treasury’s e-Tender publication portal.

The Secretariat of the Bonn-based Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) confirmed that it had been unable to obtain a copy of the environmental impact study, while the South Sudan Wildlife Service head, General Khamis Adieng Ding, did not respond to requests for comment.

“We are aware that the ESIA study was conducted in May-July 2024, but unfortunately we have not seen it because the report has not been made public,” said a spokesperson for the CMS Secretariat.

The CMS Secretariat has raised several concerns about the South African/South Sudan exploration project, which covers a massive 47,000km2 area known as Block B2, north of the capital, Juba.

The village of Kassinger in Badingilo National Park. (Photo: Marcus Westberg)

According to the CMS Secretariat, the Block B2 oil extraction plan “poses a pressing concern” because it covers living spaces critical for both the kob and tiang migrations.

“Without careful and informed planning, the oil exploration set to begin in 2025 could seriously disrupt wildlife migration, increase human encroachment, and escalate illegal hunting. The rising incidence of illegal tiang harvesting along roads already shows how essential it is to plan infrastructure with wildlife protection in mind.

“Approximately five million kob and 400,000 tiang, alongside other hooved mammals also known as ‘ungulates’, undertake complex, long-distance journeys to access essential wet and dry-season habitats annually,” said the CMS, citing newly released migration maps developed by the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration.

Their routes take them between Badingilo and Boma National Parks in South Sudan. Some also migrate further north to Gambella National Park in Ethiopia, an important dry-season refuge, particularly for kob, from February to May.

White-eared kob race across a gully during the Great Nile Migration. (Photo: David Simpson)

In response to these concerns, the SANPC said: “We, as a responsible operator, will take due care for any interference in migration of fauna and flora regarding its magnitude, timing, and preventative measures which are required to be taken to make minimum impact on their movement. The issue was well dealt [with] in the ESIA report, and mitigation plans are being proposed, which will be adhered to while operating in the area.”

According to a Unesco World Heritage Site nomination fact sheet, the Sudd has a very high carrying capacity for wild herbivores that depends on unconstrained foraging movement across an intact and functioning landscape.

As a result, the Sudd and adjoining wetlands and grasslands are still able to support two of the largest ungulate migrations in the world, covering an area seven times larger than Serengeti National Park.

But if South Africa strikes oil, that picture is almost certain to change. DM

Read SANPC’s full response to our queries below:



https://youtu.be/REeWvTRUpMk