Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 20 March 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# Mineral and Petroleum Resources minister, Gwede Mantashe, has reiterated that developing South Africa’s oil and gas potential could be a game changer for economic growth. Exploration has found that South Africa’s coastal and adjoining waters hold approximately nine-billion barrels of oil and a further 11-billion barrels of oil equivalent of natural gas. Mantashe says considering the increasing demand for natural gas, government is speedily finalising the Gas Master Plan to achieve a stable and growing economy. He adds that the plan is designed to complement existing energy policies.

# Former US president Joe Biden’s administration has been accused of withholding a 2023 report which showed that US liquefied natural gas exports had no significant impact on global greenhouse gas emissions. America became the world’s largest energy exporter in 2023, underpinned by new demand in the European Union following Russia’s war in Ukraine, and its abrupt cutoff of nearly all piped gas supplies to the bloc. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairperson, James Comer, says the Biden administration undermined American-made energy production to appease climate activists.

# And finally: The serious drought in Namibia had been broken in most parts following weeks of very good rains. In the south, the level of the Hardap Dam near Mariental improved to 27.6-percent this week after being almost empty at 5.5-percent at the beginning of the year. The level of the Naute Dam near Keetmanshoop improved from 44-percent last week to over 50-percent. The Swakoppoort, Von Bach and Omatako Dams reached levels of 36-percent in comparison to under ten-percent in December.

Stay tuned for more news………….