Dr Bongani Sayidini has the strategic vision to help guide the Petroleum Agency South Africa (PASA) to new levels of success. Ralph Staniforth sat down with Dr Sayidini to discuss PASA’s work, the sector at large and its challenges, why investors must enter the market, and the bright future waiting to be unlocked.
South Africa stands at a pivotal moment in its energy history. As the country navigates the complexities of energy security, economic growth, and environmental responsibility, the upstream oil and gas sector has emerged as one of the most strategically significant arenas for national development.
At the centre of this landscape is the Petroleum Agency South Africa (PASA), the institution mandated with promoting and regulating the exploration and production of petroleum resources.
Leading this critical organisation since 2025 is Dr Bongani Sayidini, a seasoned industry professional whose career spans engineering, regulatory oversight, and executive leadership in the global energy sector.
With more than two decades of experience and a rare combination of technical, regulatory, and strategic expertise, Dr Sayidini brings both academic depth and practical industry insight to the role.
In a sector defined by scientific uncertainty, long investment horizons, and complex regulatory frameworks, his leadership arrives at a time when South Africa is seeking to unlock its petroleum potential while balancing environmental responsibility and social progress.
For PASA, the mission is clear: to position South Africa as a competitive destination for exploration investment while ensuring that the benefits of resource development translate into tangible economic and social gains.
A career built on learning, understanding, and strategy
Dr Sayidini’s professional journey through the petroleum sector reflects a rare blend of disciplines—engineering, business, regulation, and policy.
“I’m a chemical engineer by background, converted to a petroleum engineer through a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College London (University of London),” he explains. “I’ve also obtained a Master of Laws in Petroleum Law and Policy from the University of Dundee in Scotland. I have an MBA and a PhD in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Cape Town. I have 25 years of experience in the petroleum industry.”
This multidisciplinary background places him among a relatively small group of energy leaders capable of navigating both the technical complexities of petroleum exploration and the regulatory frameworks that rule resource development.
Before assuming the leadership of PASA, initially as its COO and now CEO, Dr Sayidini held several influential roles within the industry. His experience includes strategic and operational responsibilities across the upstream petroleum value chain, including positions in business intelligence, exploration strategy, and regional development.
“I was a strategist in business intelligence at one point,” he notes. “I was a regional manager for East Africa upstream business development, a vice president for exploration and production, and acting CEO at PetroSA.”
Those roles provided him with an intimate understanding of the global petroleum landscape and the dynamics that shape investment decisions in exploration and production.
More importantly, they offered insight into the delicate balance between commercial interests, national development objectives, and regulatory oversight—an equilibrium that lies at the heart of PASA’s mandate.
Leadership rooted in service
Despite his extensive academic and professional achievements, Dr Sayidini’s leadership philosophy is grounded in a principle he describes simply as “servant leadership”.
Early in his career, soon after graduating as a chemical engineer, he became actively involved in labour representation within the energy sector, which helped shape his approach to leadership.
“Right after graduating with my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering, I joined the trade unions and saw them as a means to serve people, to serve the workforce,” he recalls.
Although he was never formally elected as a union shop steward in those early days, his commitment to advocating for colleagues and improving working conditions naturally positioned him as a leader.
“Almost soon after joining the industry, I became a worker leader by default,” he says. “I was not a shop steward officially, but I contributed to the betterment of workers in such a way that I emerged as a leader through that process.”
That formative period instilled a belief that leadership is less about authority and more about enabling others to succeed.
“I believe in the ability of people to deliver whatever objective they set for themselves or organisationally,” he explains. “And I believe people want to make a contribution. As leaders, we just need to provide the conducive environment that enables them to make those contributions.”
This philosophy now informs his approach to managing a complex organisation such as PASA, where technical specialists, regulators, policymakers, and industry stakeholders must collaborate to advance national energy objectives.
The strategic role of PASA
For many outside the energy sector, the role of PASA may not be immediately clear. Yet the organisation sits at the centre of South Africa’s upstream petroleum ecosystem.
Dr Sayidini describes the agency’s mandate in straightforward terms.
“The mandate of the petroleum agency is first and foremost to promote the exploration and production of oil and gas in South Africa,” he says. “It is to promote the search for oil and gas and attract investors so that they invest and create value.”
But PASA’s responsibilities extend beyond promotion and investment facilitation. The agency also acts as the sector’s primary regulator.
“We process the applications for rights and ensure that the rights holders comply with their technical work programmes and environmental management programmes,” he explains. “So our mandate is to promote exploration and production and regulate the upstream petroleum sector.”
This dual role—both promotional and regulatory – places PASA in a unique position within the energy ecosystem. It must encourage exploration investment while simultaneously ensuring strict compliance with environmental, legal, and operational standards.
The task becomes particularly complex in an industry defined by high risk and high reward.
The search for oil and gas is inherently uncertain, requiring massive financial investments and sophisticated technological capabilities. Companies exploring offshore basins often invest hundreds of millions of dollars before a single discovery is made.
Yet when successful, the economic returns can be transformative.
For Dr Sayidini, the significance of oil and gas extends far beyond energy supply. It represents an opportunity for economic transformation.
“The upstream petroleum sector is the biggest industry in the world in terms of value,” he says. “It’s a highly specialised environment and a highly uncertain one, but it’s also a space that can change lives.”
History offers numerous examples of countries that have leveraged petroleum resources to accelerate economic development.
“Norway is a case in point,” he explains. “It was relatively poor in the late 1960s. Then they discovered oil towards the end of that decade, and today they are among the richest countries in the world.”
In Norway’s case, petroleum revenues were carefully managed and invested in sovereign wealth funds and social programmes, creating long-term national prosperity.
For South Africa, the potential impact of successful exploration could be equally significant.
To prove his point, Dr Sayidini highlights a gas discovery near Mossel Bay.
“One opportunity near Mossel Bay—considered small by global standards – contains about 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas,” he says. “Once developed, gas could revive the gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay, which closed in 2020, to run for another 30 years.”
The implications would ripple across the regional economy.
“It would sustain about 1 500 direct jobs at the refinery and about 5 000 indirect jobs through supporting services and create 42,500 employment opportunities. It could add something like R22-billion annually to the GDP,” he notes, while also generating R25-billion in taxes and royalties for the state.
Such developments could also improve South Africa’s balance of payments by reducing reliance on imported energy resources, contributing R25.6 billion through import substitution.
“If you produce oil or gas domestically, it means you are no longer relying on imports,” he says. “That improves the balance of payments.”
These economic considerations play a central role in PASA’s decision-making processes.
“We process applications for rights and issue licences so companies can explore and create value,” he explains. “They create value for their shareholders, but they also create value for South African citizens through taxes, development, and job creation.”
Balancing regulation, sustainability, and development
As PASA promotes exploration and facilitates investment, it must also safeguard environmental integrity and ensure that petroleum development occurs within South Africa’s constitutional and legislative framework. Striking that balance is one of the agency’s most complex responsibilities.
According to Dr Sayidini, the foundation for this balance lies within South Africa’s Constitution.
“We are guided first and foremost by the Constitution of the Republic,” he explains. “Section 24 calls for development to take place in an ecologically sustainable manner while also ensuring economic and social progress.”
This constitutional principle is reinforced through legislation such as the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002 as amended and the National Environmental Management Act of 1998 as amended, which together shape how natural resources are managed and developed.
“These laws recognise that there must always be a balancing act,” Dr Sayidini says. “There must be development because societies require progress, but that development must also occur responsibly.”
In practice, this means rigorous regulatory oversight and comprehensive environmental assessments before exploration activities can begin.
For example, seismic surveys, one of the key steps in identifying potential oil and gas resources—require extensive environmental authorisation. These surveys use sound waves to map subsurface geological formations and identify structures that may contain hydrocarbons.
Before such work can proceed, companies must conduct environmental impact assessments examining potential effects on marine ecosystems, climate considerations and biodiversity.
“They must undertake detailed studies,” Dr Sayidini explains. “That includes assessing impacts on marine mammals, fish species, and broader environmental systems.”
Companies are also required to propose mitigation measures to minimise potential impacts.
“We know there is no activity in life that has absolutely no environmental impact,” he says. “The question is whether those impacts can be mitigated and reduced to a level that society can live with.”
For PASA, ensuring that these mitigation strategies are robust and enforceable is essential to maintaining public trust and environmental integrity.
Strategic priorities
As the global energy landscape evolves, PASA’s strategic priorities remain focused on revitalising exploration activity in South Africa.
“Our immediate priority is to ensure that exploration activity takes place in the country,” Dr Sayidini says.
The exploration process typically begins with seismic data acquisition, which allows geoscientists and petroleum engineers to image underground structures and identify potential hydrocarbon reservoirs.
“Through seismic surveys, you are able to identify where oil and gas could be,” he explains. “You image the subsurface and determine where drilling might be viable.”
However, the path from seismic imaging to drilling is rarely straightforward.
Exploration projects often face regulatory and legal hurdles that can significantly delay progress. In South Africa, environmental appeals and court challenges have occasionally slowed the pace of exploration activities.
“We have a number of rights where operators have wanted to acquire seismic data or drill wells,” Dr Sayidini notes. “But their environmental authorisations are sometimes appealed, and those appeals can go through lengthy legal processes.”
While these processes reflect the country’s strong environmental governance framework, they can also create uncertainty for investors.
“Our priority is to ensure that exploration can take place, because without exploration, there is no sector. It is only through drilling wells that you can say with certainty that a discovery has been made,” he emphasises.
South Africa’s untapped geological potential
Despite the challenges associated with exploration, South Africa’s offshore basins hold significant promise.
“South Africa is highly prospective in oil and gas,” Dr Sayidini says. “And that prospectivity is increasingly being proven.”
One of the most significant geological regions attracting attention is the Orange Basin, located off the west coast of southern Africa.
The basin spans the maritime boundaries of South Africa and Namibia, and recent exploration activity on the Namibian side has yielded remarkable discoveries.
“Over the last three years, drilling activities in Namibia have resulted in several major discoveries,” he explains.
These findings have dramatically increased global interest in the basin’s potential.
What makes the development particularly exciting for South Africa is the geological continuity between the two countries.
“About 75% of that basin lies within South African waters,” Dr Sayidini says.
If Namibia’s discoveries are any indication, the South African side of the basin may hold comparable resources.
“Where you see success on one side of a geological basin, there is a strong possibility of similar structures on the other side,” he notes.
For exploration companies, these regions present fantastic investment opportunities.
“Industry understands the geology,” he explains. “They see prospects on the South African side that resemble what has already been discovered in Namibia.”
Such discoveries could transform South Africa’s energy outlook while attracting billions of dollars in exploration and development investment.
A new (much-needed) legislative framework for the sector
A major milestone in strengthening South Africa’s petroleum sector came with the introduction of the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Act (UPRDA) in 2024.
The legislation represents the first dedicated legal framework specifically designed for oil and gas exploration and production.
Before its enactment, the upstream petroleum sector was regulated under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, a law primarily designed for the mining industry.
“That act was largely focused on minerals,” Dr Sayidini explains. “Only one chapter dealt specifically with oil and gas.”
The new legislation acknowledges the fundamental differences between petroleum resources and hard-rock minerals.
“Oil and gas are fluid resources, and their exploration is inherently uncertain,” he says. “The investment requirements are also much larger.”
Offshore drilling, for example, requires highly specialised equipment and significant financial resources.
“To drill a single offshore well can cost around $100 million,” he explains.
The UPRDA addresses these differences by creating a more tailored regulatory environment that aligns with global petroleum industry practices.
One of its key features is the introduction of a licensing system based on competitive bidding rounds.
“Licensing by bid round allows the country to attract the best companies with the financial strength and technical expertise required to operate in challenging offshore environments,” Dr Sayidini says.
These companies—often referred to as “super majors”—possess the advanced technology and deep financial resources necessary for large-scale exploration.
“They have the technical depth to operate in deep water and the financial muscle to sustain high-risk exploration campaigns,” he notes.
By establishing a clear and specialised legislative framework, the UPRDA aims to increase investor confidence and accelerate exploration activity across South Africa’s offshore basins.
Building trust through stakeholder collaboration
Resource development does not occur in isolation. It requires cooperation among governments, industry stakeholders, environmentalists, academic institutions, legal experts, and local communities.
For PASA, maintaining strong stakeholder relationships is essential for ensuring sustainable resource development.
Community engagement, in particular, plays a critical role in building what the industry calls a “social licence to operate”.
To strengthen public understanding of the petroleum sector, PASA has implemented community outreach initiatives aimed at demystifying oil and gas exploration.
“We conduct programmes where we share information with communities,” Dr Sayidini explains. “We educate them about what oil and gas are and how exploration works.
“We explain the risks associated with oil and gas, but also the mitigation measures that are put in place.”
Equally important is demonstrating the tangible economic benefits that resource development can bring to communities.
Dr Sayidini often points to the transformation of Mossel Bay as an example of success.
“Before the development of oil and gas infrastructure, Mossel Bay was a small fishing town,” he says. “That town developed significantly on the back of oil and gas.”
Development projects funded through social and labour programmes have also contributed to infrastructure improvements across the region.
“Schools, clinics, and roads have been built through contributions from the petroleum sector,” he notes.
These investments have had lasting impacts not only within Mossel Bay but also in surrounding communities across the Western and Eastern Cape.
The trends shaping the sector
While South Africa’s upstream petroleum sector is still emerging, it exists within a global energy system undergoing profound transformation. Governments, corporations, and investors across the world are increasingly focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining reliable energy supply.
These shifts are reshaping how oil and gas resources are developed and utilised.
According to Dr Sayidini, one of the most significant global trends influencing the sector is the growing emphasis on net-zero carbon emissions.
“Countries around the world have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions,” he says. “In South Africa’s case, our largest source of emissions is coal, because we rely heavily on coal for electricity generation.”
Reducing dependence on coal presents both a challenge and an opportunity. While renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are expanding rapidly, they remain intermittent by nature.
“When there is no wind, you cannot generate electricity,” Dr Sayidini explains. “When the sun is not there, solar generation drops.”
This variability means that energy systems require reliable complementary sources of power.
For many countries, natural gas has emerged as a critical transitional fuel.
“Gas is seen as a bridge in the energy transition,” he says. “If you reduce your dependence on coal, you need something cleaner that can replace that generation capacity. Gas is much cleaner than coal and can provide that reliability.”
This perspective has influenced energy strategies across Europe and Asia, where governments are increasingly investing in gas infrastructure as part of their decarbonisation pathways.
Europe, in particular, has experienced the geopolitical risks associated with energy dependence.
“Europe has historically relied heavily on gas,” Dr Sayidini notes. “But they have also seen what happens when supply is disrupted.”
Recent geopolitical tensions have underscored the importance of diversified and secure energy sources.
“When countries rely too heavily on a single supplier, that supply can be cut off during conflicts or disputes,” he says.
As a result, global demand for new gas reserves is expected to grow over the coming decade.
For South Africa, this trend reinforces the importance of developing domestic gas resources that can support both energy security and industrial growth.
The investment climate
Global energy markets are also shaped by shifting investment patterns. Political developments, policy changes, and economic conditions all influence how capital flows into the oil and gas sector.
Dr Sayidini notes that recent political developments in the United States have contributed to renewed investor interest in petroleum projects.
“The current administration in the United States is very supportive of oil and gas,” he says. “Some of the funding constraints that previously existed are being relaxed.”
This shift could unlock additional capital for exploration and development activities worldwide.
“When more funding flows into the sector, it increases the capacity for exploration,” he explains.
For emerging petroleum countries such as South Africa, access to global investment capital will be critical to unlocking offshore resources.
Large-scale exploration campaigns require billions of dollars in investment and involve complex technological capabilities. Only a handful of multinational companies possess the expertise and resources required for such projects.
These companies – often referred to as “super majors” – play a pivotal role in frontier exploration regions.
One of Dr Sayidini’s long-term ambitions is to attract a broader range of global petroleum companies to South Africa’s offshore basins. These include industry leaders such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, ConocoPhillips, and Eni, and BP, as well as major national oil companies such as Petrobras and CNOOC in China.
“We already have some major players in the country such as Shell and TotalEnergies,” he says. “But we would like to see all of the super majors operating here.”
The presence of such companies can dramatically accelerate exploration and development activity.
“These companies have the financial strength and the technical capabilities required to operate in deep-water environments,” he explains.
“You may have four kilometres of water before you even reach the seabed. Then you still need to drill through the seabed to reach the reservoir.”
Projects of this scale require sophisticated engineering, advanced equipment and substantial financial investment.
“Only companies with deep technical expertise and deep pockets can operate in these environments,” he notes.
However, attracting such companies requires more than geological potential alone. It also depends on regulatory certainty and an enabling investment environment.
In recent years, some companies withdrew from South Africa due to legal challenges and project delays, as “there were cases where exploration rights were challenged in court, and the process became prolonged,” Dr Sayidini explains.
Ensuring that regulatory processes are efficient and transparent will therefore be essential for restoring investor confidence.
Unlocking South Africa’s petroleum potential
Despite these challenges, the underlying geological potential of South Africa’s offshore basins remains one of the most compelling aspects of the country’s energy future.
Dr Sayidini believes the country’s petroleum resources estimated at 27-billion barrels and 60-trillion cubic feet of prospective oil and gas resources offshore, and in excess of 200 tcf of prospective gas resources onshore could ultimately be worth billions of dollars.
“I would like to leave a legacy where the value of our oil and gas prospectivity is unlocked,” he says.
Achieving that goal will require sustained exploration activity over many years. One of his key strategic objectives is to increase the number of wells drilled annually in and around South Africa.
“My vision is to see drilling happening every year,” he says. “Ideally, we would like to see at least 10 offshore wells and 100 onshore wells drilled annually.”
While that number may appear ambitious, it is not unprecedented in the region. He points to recent exploration activity in just one basin in Namibia as evidence that such momentum is possible.
“Between January 2022 and the end of 2025, Namibia drilled about 24 wells,” he explains, and if South Africa can create a similarly enabling environment, comparable levels of exploration activity could be achieved.
Seismic surveys—another essential component of exploration – are also central to his vision.
“I would like to see at least two seismic surveys conducted every year for the next five years and beyond,” Dr Sayidini says.
Seismic surveys provide the geological data that allows companies to identify potential drilling targets, as without such data, exploration cannot progress.
“In 2021 and early 2022, two seismic surveys were underway in South Africa,” he recalls. “One off the Wild Coast and another off the West Coast.”
Both projects were halted before completion due to urgent interdicts based on legal and regulatory challenges. For Dr Sayidini, restoring this level of activity is essential to the long-term health of the sector.
“We need to return to a scenario where exploration activities can proceed consistently,” he says.
A vision for an inclusive energy future
Beyond economic and industrial development, Dr Sayidini emphasises that the success of South Africa’s petroleum sector must ultimately be measured by its contribution to society.
This includes job creation, community development, and broader economic transformation.
Oil and gas projects generate employment not only within the energy sector itself but also across a wide range of supporting industries. These include engineering services, logistics, manufacturing, environmental consulting, and infrastructure development.
At the same time, revenues from petroleum production—through taxes and royalties—can provide governments with resources to invest in public services and social programmes.
“If we unlock the potential of this sector, the benefits could be transformative,” Dr Sayidini says.
Yet he is also clear that development must proceed responsibly, with environmental stewardship, transparency, and stakeholder engagement remaining central to PASA’s mission.
“We must ensure that exploration and production take place within a framework that protects the environment and benefits society,” he concludes.