New Age, Tower Extend South African Licence
Junior partners New Age Energy and Tower Resources have agreed to extend their licence for the Algoa-Gamtoos area off South Africa, taking them into a second exploration phase. This second phase will run for two years from November 17 2020, in which time the partners will need to undertake a 300-km2 3D seismic survey.
Algoa-Gamtoos is adjacent to the 11B/12B block, where Total made a second "significant" gas and condensate discovery in October. New Age and Tower's block contains the southern deepwater margin of the Outenique basin that was targeted by Total at its Brulpadda and Luiperd-1X wells at 11B/12B.
Total's wells successfully tested the Lower Cretaceous turbidite fan play of the Outeniqua basin slope, Tower said, which is intepreted to extend along strike into the southern part of the Algoa-Gamtoos block, where the partners have identified a substantial prospect from 2D seismic data. Tower noted that operator New Age had reprocessed the existing 2D seismic data at the licence this year, yielding a considerable improvement in resolution. It expects to have updated analysis and volumetrics available in January, which will be made available to potential farm-in parters.
Total's success at 11B/12B has garnered more interest in South Africa's offshore zone. Last month Shell agreed to farm into the Transkei and Algoa blocks east of 11B/12B in a deal with Impact Oil & Gas.