The new rules, he says, will “create a more appropriate and investment-friendly environment for oil and gas development.” South Africa’s oil and gas potentialThe country potentially has considerable oil and gas resources offshore: nine billion barrels of oil and some 60 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to a 2014 government assessment. This power is open to abuse – especially as applicants for petroleum rights must disclose considerable geological and other information to the state. This wording is broad enough to allow the expropriation of petroleum rights. “Do you go to Namibia where they know the oil and gas exists and where you have to give away 10% to a state oil company?