TotalEnergies to progress South African block to production phase
TotalEnergies has submitted a formal application to South African regulators to exchange its operated exploration rights at offshore Block 11/12B for a production concession contract, project partner Africa Energy said September 7.
TotalEnergies operates Block 11/12B with 45% equity interest, followed by Qatar Energy subsidiary Qatar Petroleum International Upstream (25%), CNR International (20%) and holding vehicle Main Street 1549 (10%), in which Africa Energy has a 49% stake.
The operating consortium proposes to relinquish the northern section of the block to focus on areas with higher prospectivity. It will also draw up a formal development plan with economic viability forecasts for selling Block 11/12B gas into the South African market.
The drilling campaign targeting Block 11/12B's Paddavissie Fairway prospects bore hydrocarbons with the exploration wells Luiperd-1X and Brulpadda-1AX, both of which encountered gas. Luiperd-1X reached a maximum constrained flow rate of 33mn ft3/d and 4,320 b/d of condensate, while Brulpadda encountered 57 metres of net gas condensate as well as a crude oil pay.
South Africa typically imports gas from Mozambique via the 865-km Sasol Gas pipeline, mainly from the onshore gas fields Temane and Pande. Figures from the Department of Mineral Resources show the Sasol Gas route supplies around 90% of South African gas usage.
Garrett Soden, president and CEO, said: "We congratulate the operator, TotalEnergies, on filing the Production Right application for Block 11B/12B. This is an important milestone for the proposed Luiperd early production system, and we look forward to finalising the gas offtake terms.
"The success at both the Luiperd-1X and Brulpadda-1AX wells significantly de-risks the remaining Paddavissie Fairway prospects for a potential larger development as the gas market expands in South Africa."