French major TOTAL will be returning, within the next one year, for further exploration and appraisal of the prospects in South Africa’s Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa, where it discovered large gas condensate pools in January 2019.
The Paris headquartered company has secured the Deepsea Stavanger for a multi-well drilling programme, beginning with the spud of the Luiperd Prospect in Q1-2020. This was the same equipment and crew that drilled the Brulpadda oil and gas discovery. Up to three exploration wells are expected to be drilled during the forthcoming campaign.
Block 11B/12B is located in the Outeniqua Basin, located 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa. The block covers an area of 19,000 square kilometers with water depths ranging from 200 to 1,800 meters. The Paddavissie Fairway in the southwest corner of the block includes the Brulpadda discovery and several submarine fan prospects.
The success at both the Brulpadda primary and secondary targets significantly de-risks the other similar prospects identified on 2D seismic. The joint venture partnership for Block 11B/12B recently completed the first phase of the 3D seismic acquisition program over the Paddavissie Fairway. The Brulpadda well results will be integrated with the three dimensional (3D) seismic data in advance of next year’s drilling programme.
TOTAL operates Block 11B/12B with 45% interest while Qatar Petroleum and Canadian Natural Resources Limited have 25% and 20% interests, respectively. Main Street 1549 Proprietary Limited holds a 10% participating interest.
