TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy actively enhance oil and gas exploration in the Orange Basin off Namibia, securing an additional licence in South African waters nearby.
TotalEnergies and its partner QatarEnergy have signed an agreement to buy participating interests in Block 3B/4B offshore South Africa from the companies Africa Oil South Africa, Azinam, and Ricocure.
Following completion of the transaction, TotalEnergies will hold a 33% participating interest in Block 3B/4B and assume operatorship, while QatarEnergy will hold a 24% stake. The remaining interests will be held by the existing licence holders: Africa Oil, Ricocure, and Azinam.
“Following the Venus success in Namibia, TotalEnergies is continuing to progress its exploration effort in the Orange Basin by entering this promising exploration licence in South Africa,” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at TotalEnergies.
Qatar Energy’s president and chief executive, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said,
“The farm-in to Block 3B/4B builds on our presence in the prolific Orange Basin.”
“We look forward to working together with our partners and the relevant government entities in South Africa to further assess this block’s potential,” said Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs.
Block 3B/4B covers an area of more than 17,500 square kilometres (6,757 square miles) within the Orange Basin offshore the western coast of South Africa in water depths ranging between 300 and 2,000 metres (985 ft to 6,562 ft).
South Africa is one of TotalEnergies’ two targeted frontier exploration areas offshore Africa—the other one is offshore Namibia, which analysts say could have the potential to become the new Guyana for oil and gas exploration and discoveries.
TotalEnergies, as well as Shell, have already made large discoveries offshore Namibia.
In early 2022, TotalEnergies uncovered a substantial reserve of light oil accompanied by gas at the Venus prospect within the Orange Basin. TotalEnergies labelled the discovery as a potential ‘giant oil and gas find’ during an investor presentation in September 2022.
