French major TOTAL has spud the Luiperd-1X well, the second exploration well on Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa following the Brulpadda discovery in February 2019.
The Luiperd-1X well will test the eastern area of the Paddavissie Fairway on Block 11B/12B to follow-up on the Brulpadda discovery of gas condensate and light oil. In the success case, TOTAL and the joint venture plan to flow test the Luiperd-1X borehole by performing a drill stem test. They look forward to drilling results in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Block 11B/12B is located in the Outeniqua Basin, covers an area of approximately 19,000 square kilometers with water depths ranging from 200 to 1,800 meters. The Paddavissie Fairway is in the southwest area of the block and includes the Brulpadda discovery, which confirmed the petroleum system. The Luiperd Prospect is the second to be drilled in a series of five large submarine fan prospects with direct hydrocarbon indicators defined utilizing both 2D and 3D seismic data.
The Luiperd-1X exploration well is being drilled in 1,795 meters of water by the Odfjell Deepsea Stavanger semi-submersible rig to a total depth of 3,550 meters subsea. The well will test the oil and gas potential in a mid-Cretaceous aged deep marine sequence where fan sandstone systems are developed within combined stratigraphic/structural closure. Drilling and evaluation of the well is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020.
TOTAL operates Block 11B/12B with 45% participating interest in, while Qatar Petroleum International Upstream LLC and CNR International have 25% and 20% participating interests, respectively, in the acreage. Africa Energy holds 49% of the shares in Main Street 1549 (Proprietary) Limited, which has a 10% participating interest in the Block.