South Africa is working on a policy to govern the development of oil and gas resources after calls by potential investors to shield the industry from a long-running debate over laws that apply to mining exploration. The finalising of oil legislation has become more urgent since Total announced the first significant deep-water oil find off the coast of South Africa in February. Since the discovery, which has an estimated one-billion barrels of crude reserves, rival Royal Dutch Shell has bought a stake in exploration blocks in the same area from Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
