Page 14 - AfrOil Week 34 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

She did not comment on the progress of talks PetroSA and TotalEnergies were discussing
between the two companies. an off-take agreement that called for the latter
She did note, however, that negotiations on company to supply the GTL plant with gas from
offshore oil and gas projects had become more Luiperd, one of the fields at the block.
complicated as a result of the complaints made The PASA CEO also stated at the same time
and lawsuits filed by community and environ- that TotalEnergies was discussing another deal
mental activists. “As the Petroleum Agency, we with Eskom, the national power provider. This
acknowledge that South Africa’s upstream oil proposed agreement would bring gas from Lui-
and gas industry has become litigious,” she told perd to Eskom’s 740-MW Gourikwa thermal
Bloomberg. power plant (TPP), which is adjacent to the
PASA has responded to criticism by enhanc- Mossel Bay GTL facility, she said. (The TPP cur-
ing its guidelines for local consultation in order rently burns petroleum products but could be
to ensure that the communities most likely to be converted to gas.)
affected by oil and gas projects have more input, Masangane said in March that both sets of
she said. The state is also exercising its regula- talks might be wrapped up by June of this year.
tory authority on the environmental front, she It is not known how much progress the parties
indicated. have made, but South African authorities are
She also expressed optimism about the Block still keen to fast-track the development of Lui-
11B/12B project, saying it had the potential to perd, a project that may cost about $2bn.
deliver great benefit to the country. If TotalEn- TotalEnergies has identified five prospects
ergies meets requirements – including submit- along the Padavissie Fairway within Block
ting development plans on time and obtaining 11B/12B, which lies about 175 km off the south-
the necessary environmental authorisations – it ern coast of South Africa. To date, the French
may be able to commence production by 2026, major has only drilled exploration wells at two
she said. of those prospects, Brulpadda and Luiperd. It
Gas from its offshore fields could then serve has found gas and condensate at both sites, and
as a new source of feedstock for PetroSA’s Mos- the total reserves of the two fields have been esti-
sel Bay gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant, which has mated at 3.4 trillion cubic feet (96.28bn cubic
remained idle since 2020 for lack of feedstock. metres) of gas and 192mn barrels of conden-
Masangane told Reuters in March this year that sate. ™

Mukuyu-1 exploration well will

be spudded by early September

ZIMBABWE AUSTRALIA’S Invictus Energy is still on track
to spud its first exploration well at the Mukuyu
natural gas field by early September, even though
some of its equipment has not yet arrived at the
drilling site, according to the company’s partner,
One Gas Resources of Zimbabwe.
One Gas Resources chairman Paul Chim-
bodza told reporters on August 19 that the com-
panies were still waiting for some equipment
they would need to spud the Mukuyu-1 well at
the Special Grant 4571 (SG 4571) block. Even
so, they do not expect to postpone drilling work,
he said at the drilling site, located in the Mbire
district about 185 km north of Harare.
“There’s still bits and pieces of equipment
being brought in,” he was quoted as saying by
Bloomberg. “We’re seeing a bit of delay but noth-
ing of a red flag for us.” The SG 4571 licence area is in the Cabora Bassa basin (Image: Invictus Energy)
Chimbodza also emphasised that Exalo
Drilling’s Rig 202 had already been delivered to Chimbodza went on to say that Invictus and
the Mukuyu-1 drilling site, saying that work was One Gas Resources expected to rack up more
anticipated to proceed on schedule. “We hope to successes in the Cabora Bassa basin than the US
spud by the end of the month or the first week of major Mobil (now part of ExxonMobil) did in
September,” he stated. the 1990s.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 25•August•2022