Founded in 1999, OPASA is the voice of South Africa’s offshore upstream oil and gas industry.
The association gathers South African and international companies who hold offshore exploration and/or production rights in South Africa and are committed to develop South Africa’s offshore oil and gas resources applying the best international practices in terms of health, safety and environment, respecting South Africa’s environmental commitments and ensuring value creation for all stakeholders.
It’s main objective is to collaborate constructively and in a transparent manner with all stakeholders to provide relevant, factual insights on offshore development opportunities,
their broader significance to the country and its people.
It aims to contribute to the national conversation, ensuring that dialogue around the sector is well informed and reflective of the industry’s reality and potential contribution to South Africa’s energy future.
The Offshore Petroleum Association of South Africa (OPASA) was officially launched in 1999. Parties interested in the upstream industry of South Africa, joined with companies involved in the offshore exploration and production of hydrocarbons to establish an organisation dedicated to promoting responsible and sustainable development of the country’s offshore oil and gas resources.
As exploration and development progress, there’s growing public interest in what this means for communities, the economy, and the environment. OPASA is the voice of South Africa’s offshore upstream industry, and its main objective is to collaborate constructively and in a transparent way with all stakeholders. OPASA aims to provide relevant, factual insights on offshore oil and gas development opportunities, their broader significance to the country and its people.
OPASA aims to contribute to the national conversation, ensuring that dialogue around the sector is informed by context and sector-specific insight, and that it is reflective of the industry’s reality and potential contribution to South Africa’s energy future.
Magali Pailhé has been the Managing Director of TotalEnergies Exploration & Production and Renewables in South Africa since June 2025, TotalEnergies’ transition strategy anchored on two growth pillars: hydrocarbons and renewables.
With over 20 years at TotalEnergies, she brings extensive international experience across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, having held senior roles in strategy, negotiation and business development. Prior to her current role, she served as Vice President of Strategy for Exploration & Production, shaping the long-term direction of the business globally, and as Business & Strategy Director for TotalEnergies Exploration and Production in Angola.
Magali holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School in Paris.
Dennis Zekveld is Shell South Africa’s General Manager for Upstream, responsible for managing all aspects of the South African exploration ventures.
With over 25 years of experience in the Upstream sector, Dennis began his career with Shell in the United Kingdom in 2000. He has gained extensive international experience through roles across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America. Prior to his current role, he served as Shell’s Country Chair in Namibia, where he oversaw a multi-well offshore drilling campaign and safely delivered eight deepwater wells.
Dennis holds an MSc degree in Business Administration from the Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
Edward Prescott has over 20 years of global upstream experience having worked extensively in West and East Africa, Australia, Latin America, South East Asia, Oman and India in a variety of technical roles across the whole upstream value chain. Projects have varied from remote onshore exploration in Africa and Australia to frontier deepwater exploration in Africa, South East Asia and Australia. He has worked on the offshore basins of South Africa for the last decade.
Edward is a member of the small team at Impact Oil & Gas which was jointly responsible for the discovery the giant Venus oil field in ultra-deepwater Namibia. In Australia, Edward was responsible for the discovery of a number of significant gas fields including a play-opening discovery.
Edward has a BSc (Hons) in Geophysics from Durham University, England and a MSc in Petroleum Geology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
OPASA’s spokesperson, Niall Kramer, leads OPASA’s national-level commentary and engagements with media, stakeholders, and the public.
He brings extensive experience in South Africa’s energy and industrial sectors, including his previous role as CEO of the South African Oil & Gas Alliance (SAOGA).
