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AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

The French company also explained that the Block 11B/12B lies off South Africa’s south-
well was now slated for testing upon the com- ern coast in the Outeniqua Basin. It covers an
pletion of “a comprehensive coring and logging area of about 19,000 square km and lies in waters
programme ... to assess the dynamic reservoir ranging from 200 to 1,800 metres in depth.
characteristics and deliverability.” Equity in the block is split 45% to Total,
The French major and its partners drilled the operator; 25% to Qatar Petroleum; 20% to
Luiperd-1x to a depth of 3,400 metres at a site in CNR International (South Africa), and 10% to
1,800-metre-deep water. They used the Odfjell Main Street 1549 Proprietary, in which equity is
Stavanger rig for to sink the well, which “tar- split 49% to Africa Energy and 51% to Arostyle
geted the hydrocarbons potential in a mid-Cre- Investments, a black-owned South African firm.
taceous-aged deep marine sequence where fan In turn, Africa Oil has a 31.1% direct interest in
sandstone systems are developed within com- Africa Energy, as well as an indirect interest via
bined stratigraphic/structural closure,” accord- its 31.1% stake in Impact Oil & Gas. ™
ing to Africa Oil’s statement.
In that statement, Africa Oil’s president
and CEO Garrett Soden discussed upcoming
developments at the Luiperd field. “The Block
11B/12B partners are conducting a drill stem
test to measure flow rates over the next few
weeks,” he said.
According to Soden, the partners are ready
to examine the options for developing the block.
“Due to the success at Luiperd, the joint ven-
ture has decided to proceed with development
studies and engage with authorities on the com-
mercialisation of gas instead of drilling another
exploration well in this programme,” he said. Luiperd is near the Brulpadda field (Image: Africa Energy Corp.)

Impact expands foothold in

South Africa’s offshore zone

SOUTH AFRICA UK-BASED Impact Oil & Gas has substantially stretching from northernmost Namibia around
expanded its foothold in South Africa’s offshore Cape Agulhas and the Transkei margin to the
zone by arranging to take the lead on the Area Durban Basin in the north-east.” The potential
2 project. of this new play has become clear over the last
In a statement dated November 2, the com- year as a result of Total’s discovery of sizeable gas
pany said it had arranged to acquire a 90% stake condensate reserves at Block 11B/12B, and it will
in Area 2, a block in an ultra-deepwater section be tested further next year through exploration
of the Transkei margin. It explained that it had drilling at Venus, an ultra-deepwater prospect
entered into a farm-out deal for Area 2 with Sil- offshore Namibia, Impact said. It noted that it
ver Wave Energy (Singapore), which acquired was a shareholder in the Venus project.
a licence for the site in 2015. Under the agree- Siraj Ahmed, the CEO of Impact, noted that
ment, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Area 2 was adjacent to two more offshore blocks
Impact Africa will take a 90% working interest that have been assigned to Impact. “The addi-
in the site and also assume the position of oper- tion of Area 2 to Impact’s Transkei & Algoa and
ator, while Silver Wave will retain the remaining Orange Basin deep blocks in South Africa, and
10% of equity in the project. Blocks 2912 and 2913B in Namibia, delivers a
Impact did not reveal the financial terms unique and compelling Southern African explo-
of the deal or say when the parties expected to ration portfolio,” he said.
finalise the transaction. It did note that Area 2 is He was speaking several days after Impact
within a 78,708-square km section of the Tran- revealed that South Africa’s government had
skei margin, straddling the Gamtoos, Algoa and approved its plan to take work at Transkei &
Transkei basins. It lies in waters that are up to Algoa and Tugela South forward “on a 100%
4,500 metres deep, but its most prospective sec- operated basis.” The company explained that
tions are about 3,500 metres above the seafloor. it was the sole remaining investor in the two
According to the November 2 statement, the blocks after acquiring 40% of Transkei & Algoa
licence area “lies within the emerging South- from ExxonMobil (US) and 35% of Tugela
ern African Aptian deepwater oil and gas play, South from Equinor (Norway). ™

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