The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy concluded clauses by clause on the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill and adopted its report on the Bill yesterday. The committee is going to table its report on the Bill to the National Assembly for its consideration.

The Bill was tabled in Parliament and referred to the committee on 1 July 2021 by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and the committee was briefed by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on the Bill on 10 May 2022. The Bill was also referred to the National House of Traditional and Khoisan leaders. It was published for public comments in local newspapers in 2022 and the deadline for public submissions was 29 July 2022.

About 16 written submissions were received from various stakeholders. Stakeholders who indicated an interest in presenting their submissions to the committee were invited to do so on 18 November 2022. Post the virtual public hearings of 18 November 2022, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy was invited on 22 November 2022 to provide responses on the written submissions.

In line with its mandate of processing legislation, the committee conducted Provincial Public Hearings on the Bill from 17 February 2023 to 28 May 2023 in nine (9) provinces. There were 5 603 participants who attended the public hearings across the nine (9) provinces. Of the 5 603 participants, 656 made oral submissions on the Bill.

The committee also considered and adopted its programme of public hearings on the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill. It will kick-start the first leg of the public hearings next week on 26 September in Limpopo in Vhembe District Local Municipality.