Total strikes huge crude oil, gas deposit in South Africa

Total has announced a major oil and gas discovery in South Africa in the offshore Southern Outeniqua Basin which runs parallel to the Southern Cape coast. The  gas find is estimated at about a billion barrels of oil equivalent According to BizNews the discovery is enough to cover South Africa’s imported fuel requirements for the next four years. Total gleefully announced the find in a statement, posted on Twitter: “Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilometres off the southern coast of South Africa. The Brulpadda well encountered 57 meters of net gas condensate pay in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. Following the success of the main objective, the well was deepened to a final depth of 3,633 meters and has also been successful in the Brulpadda-deep prospect.

“We are very pleased to announce the Brulpadda discovery which was drilled in a challenging Deepwater environment”, said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total. With this discovery, Total has opened a new world-class gas and oil play and is well positioned to test several follow-on prospects on the same block. Total drilled this exploration well with the latest generation drilling ship and was able to leverage its experience in similar environments, such as the West of Shetland, UK. Following the success of Brulpadda and confirmation of the play potential, Total and its partners plan to acquire 3D seismic this year, followed by up to four exploration wells on this license,”, it said

According to the French oil company, the Block 11B/12B, where it struck the rich deposit  covers an area of 19,000 square kilometres, with water depths ranging from 200 to 1,800 meters. It  is operated by Total with a 45% working interest, alongside Qatar Petroleum (25%), Canadian National Resources international (20%) and Main Street, a South African consortium (10%). Exploration stalled in the area in  2014  due to difficulties experienced in the harsh deepwater environment. It was only restarted in December by drawing on experience gained in similar environments elsewhere.

There is hope for still more discoveries as four additional prospects have been identified within the Paddavissie Fairway, all exhibiting the same kind of geological results from 2D seismic and electromagnetic surveys. Dr Andrew Latham, vice president, global exploration at natural resources consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said: “Brulpadda was one of Total’s biggest exploration targets this year. The gas-condensate discovery continues the great start for Total’s 2019 exploration campaign, hard on the heels of the North Sea Glengorm find, announced last week. “Even though the well isn’t an oil discovery, if Brulpadda proves to be anywhere near as big as the estimates of up to 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources, it will still be a game-changer for South Africa.”