Allocations to the Petroleum Licensing and Hydrocarbons Operations sub programmes allocations increased marginally by 0.8 million in nominal terms while Petroleum Licensing decreased by 0.7 (2.22 percent) in real terms. However, Clean Energy sub-programme allocations increased from R488.5 to R554.7 which is an increase of R66.2 million in nominal terms and 40.8 million in real terms. The increase in the budget could be attributed to the need of the Department to intensify its efforts in clean energy mechanisms, energy efficiency initiatives, use of renewable resources, and it is in line with the Departmental priorities of moving away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy technologies.