Page 4 - AfrOil Week 09 2022

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Block 2913B is within the PEL 56 licence area (Image: TotalEnergies)

TotalEnergies’ Venus find sparks

more excitement about Namibia

The French major has found light crude in an Orange basin field that may hold several billion barrels

TOTALENERGIES has announced a “signifi- this discovery.”
cant” discovery of light crude oil and associated Venus-1x lies within a licence area that
WHAT: gas offshore southern Namibia at the Venus is also known as Block 2913B, which covers
TotalEnergies has struck prospect, located in Block 2913B in the Orange approximately 8,215 square km in deep offshore
oil in the Venus-1x well at Basin. Namibia. Seismic data indicate that the block
the PEL 56 licence area. Within the Venus-1x well, its wildcat explo- may be home to a reservoir that covers an area
ration well in the PEL 56 licence area, the French of around 600 square km.
WHY: major encountered approximately 84 metres of TotalEnergies is the operator, with a 40%
The find comes shortly net oil pay in a good-quality Lower Cretaceous working interest. Its partners are QatarEnergy,
after Shell’s discovery of reservoir, according to a company press release with 30%; Impact Oil and Gas (South Africa),
light crude at the nearby dated February 24. with 20%; and National Petroleum Co. of
Graff field.
“This discovery offshore Namibia and the Namibia (NAMCOR), with 10%.
very promising initial results prove the potential
WHAT NEXT: of this play in the Orange basin, [within] which Rising expectations
Developing the new
super-giant field may TotalEnergies owns an important position both The French major had not previously com-
not be easy, owing to in Namibia and South Africa,” said Kevin McLa- mented on the status of the Venus-1x well,
the challenges inherent chlan, senior vice-president for exploration at which is being drilled in 3,000-metre-deep
in operating FPSOs at TotalEnergies. “A comprehensive coring and water. However, anonymous industry sources
ultra-deepwater sites. logging programme has been completed. This told Upstream in mid-February that initial
will enable the preparation of appraisal opera- results from 1x suggested it had tapped into a
tions designed to assess the commerciality of very large hydrocarbon structure.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 09 02•March•2022