Upstream Oil & Gas Rights.
South Africa's upstream petroleum regime now sits in its own statute, separate from mining, and the courts have made one thing very clear: a right granted on a defective consultation record does not stand, no matter how much has already been spent on it. We build exploration and production right applications, and the consultation records behind them, to a standard designed to survive regulatory and legal scrutiny.
This is the first step of your upstream petroleum mandate. No payment is needed to begin, and the eligibility check is step one inside the application.
Facing a review application, an appeal deadline or a suspension notice? Call or WhatsApp us now and we will act the same day.
Build the right that survives review.
Sunk investment is not a defence. The record you create before the right is granted is what a court looks at years later — so we treat consultation as an evidentiary exercise from day one.
Exploration & production rights
Applications, renewals, amendments and transfers under the upstream petroleum regime, onshore and offshore.
Defensible consultation
Consultation with communities, customary rights holders and traditional authorities, recorded to an evidentiary standard.
Environmental authorisation
The NEMA environmental authorisation, EMPr and specialist programme run in parallel with the right application.
Water & waste approvals
Water use licences, waste management licences and the atmospheric emission approvals a project triggers.
Compliance & conditions
Compliance audits, condition management, directives, suspensions and cessation notices.
Appeals & administrative remedies
Internal appeals, administrative review support, and remedial consultation where an existing record is challenged.
Regulatory diagnostic
We map the block, the approvals it triggers and the consultation footprint.
Fixed quote per phase
One written fee per phase before any work starts. No hourly billing.
Record, then lodge
We build the consultation record first, then lodge the application on it.
Through to decision
We drive regulator queries, appeals and review support to an outcome.
Four phases, priced separately.
You commit one phase at a time. Each phase is quoted in writing before it starts, and the diagnostic fee is credited against the consultation build if you appoint us.
We map your block or project against the upstream petroleum regime and the environmental approvals it triggers, and tell you what is actually required before you spend money.
- Which authorisations apply: exploration right, production right, technical co-operation permit
- Environmental authorisation and water use triggers identified
- Consultation and community-interest mapping for the affected area
- Gap list, document checklist and a realistic timeline
- Written opinion you can put in front of a board or funder
- Credited in full against Phase 2 if you appoint us
The phase that decides whether your right survives review. We design and run a consultation process that produces a defensible written record, not a box-ticking exercise.
- Interested and affected party identification, including customary and traditional authority structures
- Notice, translation, meeting and comment programme designed to withstand regulatory scrutiny
- Meeting facilitation, minutes, attendance registers and comment-and-response reporting
- Cultural, spiritual and livelihood impacts recorded, not summarised away
- A bound consultation record with an evidentiary index
- Legal opinion on the adequacy of the record before you lodge
The full application pack drafted, assembled and lodged with the regulator, with the environmental authorisation run in parallel.
- Exploration or production right application drafted and lodged
- Environmental authorisation application and public participation included
- Environmental management programme and specialist scoping co-ordinated by us
- Financial provision, rehabilitation and closure documentation
- Statutory and regulator lodgement fees included
- We handle every regulator query through to a decision
Internal appeals, administrative reviews and remediation of a defective record — quoted inside a hard cap after the diagnostic, never open-ended.
- Internal appeals against refusals, conditions or grants of competing rights
- Administrative review support: challenging a flawed decision or defending a favourable one
- Remedial consultation where an existing record is defective
- Compliance support on directives, suspensions and cessation notices
- Co-ordinating counsel input where the regulator's process requires it
- Hard written cap — you never pay above the quoted number
All-in fixed fees per phase, with statutory and regulator lodgement fees included in Phase 3. Phase 2 covers a single project footprint; multi-block, cross-provincial and offshore consultation programmes are quoted after the diagnostic. Phase 4 is capped in writing and includes counsel's fees only where the mandate letter says so. Independent specialist studies commissioned in your own name are excluded and disclosed upfront.
How long it actually takes.
We separate our preparation time, which we control, from the authority's decision time, which we do not. Ranges are based on comparable files.
Phase 1 · Diagnostic
Phase 2 · Consultation record
Phase 3 · Application & lodgement
Phase 4 · Appeals & administrative remedies
We cannot guarantee a government decision date. What we do guarantee is a complete file, lodged on time, with every query answered until a decision is issued.
Upstream petroleum & environmental team
Led by a named advisor on every file
Dynamic Legal Services (Pty) Ltd
Offices in Pretoria (Faerie Glen) and Sandton (Sandown) — serving all nine provinces
087 153 6207 · support@dlegal.co.za
Why clients hand us the file.
- We build the consultation record before the application, because that is the document a reviewing court reads.
- Environmental authorisation, water and waste approvals are run in parallel by the same team, not handed off.
- Internal appeals and administrative review support are handled in-house; we instruct and manage counsel only where the regulator's process requires it.
- Every phase is a fixed written fee, and Phase 4 is capped — you never receive an open-ended bill.
Your application starts here.
One application. Answer a few questions, see exactly which route applies to you and what it costs, then send it through. Documents can follow later, and nothing is payable to open the file.
Start your upstream compliance application.
Six quick questions. We tell you which phase you are actually in, whether your consultation record is likely to hold up, and what has to happen before you lodge. Nothing to pay to start.
Step 1 of your application
Where are you in the process?
Guides
Understand the process before you commit.
Wild Coast Constitutional Court judgment explained
What the judgment sets as the standard for consultation with affected communities, and why sunk investment did not save the right.
Read the guideEIA & environmental authorisation process
How the NEMA environmental authorisation runs, what triggers a full scoping and EIR, and realistic decision timelines.
Read the guideSection 24G rectification applications
What to do when activity has already started without authorisation, and how the rectification route actually works.
Read the guideQuestions
Straight answers before you apply.
Which law governs oil and gas exploration rights in South Africa?
Upstream petroleum exploration and production is regulated under South Africa's dedicated upstream petroleum resources legislation, which separates petroleum from the mineral regime that previously governed it. Every project also needs a NEMA environmental authorisation, and usually water use and waste authorisations as well. We confirm the exact combination for your block in the Phase 1 diagnostic.
Why does the consultation record matter so much?
Because a granted right built on an inadequate consultation record can be set aside in subsequent legal proceedings years later, after exploration spend. The Constitutional Court's Wild Coast judgment confirmed that meaningful consultation with affected communities and customary rights holders is a legal precondition, and that sunk investment does not cure a defective process. We therefore build the record as court-ready evidence, not as a compliance formality.
What does an upstream petroleum mandate cost?
Fees are phased and fixed: R25,000 for the regulatory diagnostic, R180,000 for the consultation record build, R350,000 all-in for the application and lodgement including statutory fees, and R250,000 – R950,000 capped for internal appeals and administrative review support. You commit one phase at a time and the diagnostic fee is credited against Phase 2 if you appoint us.
Can you fix a consultation process that has already gone wrong?
Often yes. Where a record is thin or a challenge has been threatened, we run a remedial consultation programme and rebuild the evidentiary record before the matter escalates, or support the administrative review process if it already has. That work sits in Phase 4 and is capped in writing.
Do you act for offshore as well as onshore projects?
Yes. We advise on onshore and offshore blocks, including the environmental authorisation, marine specialist programme co-ordination and consultation with coastal fishing and customary communities affected by offshore work.
Which areas do you serve?
Our offices are in Pretoria (Faerie Glen) and Sandton (Sandown) and we act for clients in all nine provinces, with applications lodged with the national regulator and the relevant environmental authorities wherever the block sits.
Is your consultation record defensible?
Send us the block, the stage you are at and any consultation already done. An advisor comes back within one business day with the phase you need, the fee and the timeline.