Page 13 - AfrOil Week 36 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Shell was the first to make a major find in the Venus-1x well at the PEL 56 block.
Namibia this year. National Petroleum Corp. of Venus was first estimated to hold 300-500mn
Namibia (NAMCOR), its state-owned partner, barrels of light crude, but the figure now looks
confirmed the discovery of hydrocarbons in the to be closer to 1.5-2.0bn barrels, high enough to
Graff-1 well at the PEL 39 block in February. make Venus the biggest discovery in sub-Saha-
TotalEnergies (France) then announced later in ran Africa in several decades. Graff, meanwhile,
the same month that it had made another find in may hold 1bn barrels or more of oil. ™

PASA says TotalEnergies has applied

for Block 11B/12B production licence

SOUTH AFRICA PETROLEUM Agency SA (PASA), the national last month that if the company met all require-
hydrocarbon regulator of South Africa, said on ments – including submitting development
September 6 that TotalEnergies (France) had plans on time and obtaining the necessary envi-
applied for a production licence covering Block ronmental authorisations – it might be able to
11B/12B, an offshore site that includes the Lui- start extracting gas from the field by 2026.
perd and Brulpadda natural gas and condensate Luiperd could then serve as a new source of
fields. feedstock for PetroSA’s Mossel Bay gas-to-liq-
TotalEnergies had been facing a deadline of uids (GTL) plant, which has remained idle since
September 6 for submitting a production plan 2020 for lack of gas. Masangane told Reuters in
for the block, and PASA’s CEO, Phindile Masan- March of this year that state-owned PetroSA and
gane, said in March of this year that the French TotalEnergies were discussing an off-take agree-
major might lose its licence entirely if it did not ment that called for the latter company to supply
comply with the timeline. On September 6, the GTL plant with gas from the field.
though, the agency informed Reuters by email The PASA CEO also stated at the same time
that TotalEnergies had turned in the necessary that TotalEnergies was discussing another deal
documents the previous day. with Eskom, the national power provider. This
The application “will be assessed for com- proposed agreement would bring gas from Lui-
pleteness over the next 14 days,” it added. perd to Eskom’s 740-MW Gourikwa thermal
PASA did not comment on the contents of power plant (TPP), which is adjacent to the
TotalEnergies’ production plan. The French Mossel Bay GTL facility, she said. (The TPP cur-
giant has indicated that it intends to focus on rently burns petroleum products but could be
developing Luiperd first, and Masangane said converted to gas.)

TotalEnergies has discovered gas and condensate at two fields within Block 11B/12B (Image: Africa Energy)

Week 36 08•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13