Page 15 - AfrOil Week 10 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

It noted that the document had been signed
by NAMCOR’s managing director Imma-
nuel Mulunga and QatarEnergy’s executive
vice-president for Subsurface Development and
Exploration Khalid Mohammed Al-Hitmi.
As of press time, neither side had revealed
all the details of the agreement. However,
QatarEnergy indicated that it expected to work
with NAMCOR E&P, the upstream subsidiary
of NAMCOR, to support the development of
Namibia’s oil and gas sector, especially in the
areas of exploration and production. The co-op-
eration agreement will serve as a framework for
the Qatari company to assist in providing train-
ing and other types of assistance to NAMCOR
employees so that the NOC can establish its own
sustainable upstream capacity, it explained. Representatives of the two sides signed the deal last week (Photo: QatarEnergy)
QatarEnergy went on to say that it also hoped
its co-operation with NAMCOR would encom- Namibia’s offshore zone, as it is a non-operat-
pass joint upstream projects but did not spec- ing partner in PEL 39, a licence area operated
ify whether the parties were considering any by Shell (UK) that includes the Graff discovery.
specific projects. “Pursuant to the terms of the Shell revealed earlier this year that it had found
agreement, the two companies also agreed to sizeable reserves of light crude oil in the Graff-1
work together on investment opportunities of exploration well, which lies in a deepwater sec-
mutual interest in Namibia’s upstream oil and tion of the Orange basin. Industry observers
gas sector,” it stated in the press release. have speculated that the Graff field may contain
The Qatari company is already an investor in 300-500mn barrels of crude or more. ™

TotalEnergies reminded of September

cutoff for Block 11B/12B production licence

ZIMBABWE THE head of South Africa’s state oil and gas
regulator has said that TotalEnergies (France)
might lose its licence for Block 11B/12B, an off-
shore licence area that contains natural gas and
condensate, if it does not apply for production
rights by September of this year.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an
industry conference on March 3, Phindile
Masangane, the CEO of Petroleum Agency
South Africa (PASA), stressed that the French
major was facing a cut-off date. “Their explo-
ration right is expiring in September 2022,” she
said. “Whatever happens, TotalEnergies and its
joint venture partners have to put in the appli-
cation for their production right by September
2022. Otherwise, the block comes back to the Shell has found natural gas and condensate at the block (Image: Africa Energy)
market.”
Masangane did not say whether she expected of talks with state-owned PetroSA on a supply
TotalEnergies to meet the deadline. As of press deal that would support such an endeavour.
time, the company had not commented on the Specifically, she said that PetroSA and
matter. TotalEnergies were discussing an off-take agree-
Nevertheless, TotalEnergies is hardly ignor- ment that calls for the latter company to supply
ing Block 11B/12B. The South African author- the former’s Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids (GTL)
ities have asked the French major to fast-track plant with gas from Luiperd for use as feed-
development work at Luiperd, one of the fields stock. (The 45,000 barrel per day (bpd) facility
discovered at the block, and Masangane told has been operating below capacity, owing to a
Reuters that the company was in the late phase decline in local gas supplies.)

Week 10 09•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P15