Drilling for oil off SA coast to cost $100m

Drilling will begin on the first of two deepwater oil exploration wells off the west coast of South Africa at the end of April at a combined cost of about $100 million (R595 million).

Jack Holliday, the chief executive of the Petroleum Agency South Africa, said international energy companies such as BHP Billiton Petroleum, Forest Exploration and Occidental Petroleum would be the first ever to drill deepwater exploration wells in South African waters.