Page 16 - AfrOil Week 17 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

The drilling programme covers a section of Block 5/6/7 (Image: SLR)

SLR Consulting invites affected parties to

attend meetings on drilling at Block 5/6/7

SOUTH AFRICA UK-BASED SLR Consulting has invited “inter- phase is to provide initial notification to stake-
ested and affected parties” to participate in holders and specifically to identify and develop
upcoming public meetings on plans by a sub- the stakeholder database for the project,” the
sidiary of TotalEnergies (France) for the drilling notice said.
of new exploration wells at Block 5/6/7, located TotalEnergies’ exploration drilling pro-
off the coast of South Africa. gramme calls for sinking one well there and then
In a notice dated April 19 and viewed by up to four more if the first is successful, it said,
NewsBase and other press agencies, SLR said citing the company’s website.
it was soliciting comments on the companies’ SLR issued the notice in three languages
plans for carrying out exploration work within a (English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa) in its capacity
10,000-square km section of the block where 2D as contractor to TotalEnergies and Shell for an
and 3D seismic data had already been acquired. environmental assessment, Bloomberg noted in
It also noted that this section lies roughly a report published on April 22.
between Cape Agulhas and Cape Town, The news agency did not name the block
“approximately 60 km from the coast at its clos- targeted for exploration or explain why it had
est point and 170 km at its furthest, in water left the site unidentified. It noted, however, that
depths between 700 metres and 3,200 metres.” Shell (UK), one of TotalEnergies’ partners in the
The consultancy further explained that Block 5/6/7 project, had been forced to aban-
it was taking this step so that it could build a don plans for collecting seismic data off South
comprehensive list of stakeholders for future Africa’s southern coast earlier this year following
engagement purposes and would make more a wave of public protests sponsored by groups
information available in May. fearing that the survey might disrupt or damage
“The main purpose of the pre-application marine habitats. ™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 17 27•April•2022