TotalEnergies plans to exit its discoveries of gas-condensate off the tip of South Africa to prioritise exploration in other areas closer to Namibia, according to people familiar with the matter.
The French giant braved one of the fastest ocean currents in the world to drill off South Africas coast, spending at least $400 million to find an estimated 1 billion barrels equivalent of light liquid hydrocarbon at the Brulpadda field in 2019. It had further success at the Luiperd well the following year, but neither discovery has progressed to development.
TotalEnergies plans to relinquish the licence for Block 11B/12B because it doubts whether the complex deep-water finds can be made commercially viable, given South Africas small gas market, said one of the people, who asked not to be named as the information isnt public. The company will concentrate instead on exploring the Orange Basin, located further north on the Atlantic coast of South Africa near promising oil discoveries in Namibian waters, the people said.
TotalEnergies didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.
An exit from the discoveries would be a blow to South Africa, which lacks domestic sources of oil and gas. Potential production from the fields had been earmarked in plans to help the country move away from a dependence on coal and provide feedstock for state-owned PetroSAs 45 000-barrel-a-day gas-to-liquids plant that depends on other depleted fields nearby.
