TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patrick Pouyanné says Namibia is a priority for the company as appraisal drilling on the Venus Find are showing positive results and expectations are that the oil column is very big.
According to Pouyanné the company aims to start flow testing offshore Namibia in August and will have results from the first test in September.
“This is very important as well as productivity per well. If it’s 15 000 barrels per day, its fine, if it’s fine, it’s not fine,” he said.
Namibia is considered the world’s top exploration hotspot, as discoveries by Shell — Graff and Jonker, and TotalEnergies’-Venus Find, pave the way for a surge of industry interest in the Orange basin and set the scene for what could be at least three major projects.
Despite having interests in South Africa, Pouyanné said Namibia is a priority for the company but however pointed out that if confirmed, they will consider an extension in the Orange Basin on the other side of the border.
This comes as Shell and TotalEnergies have posted upbeat takes on Namibia in their second quarter results, although short on actual numbers.
Meanwhile, Shell CEO, Wael Sawan said the company has drilled four exploration wells and an appraisal in a short period.
“This is a different paced Shell than you have seen in the past. What we see right now is encouraging,” he said.
“Even if the volumes are there, we need to see how the subsurface behaves in different parts of the field, to understand porosities and permeabilities,” Sawan said.
According to Sawan, their current testing exercise will assure the company on whether they proceed with one well which will be economically attractive to meet their threshold and expectations.
He said the coming months will reveal more about Shell’s plans for Namibia.
The CEO highlighted that Shell’s institutional knowledge about the Atlantic Margin gives them an advantage in their exploration in Namibia.
“Namibia is in an advantaged position. We’re actually bringing that capacity and capability to bear in Namibia and drilling some of the lowest cost wells and the fastest being drilled. I’m very proud of what the team is doing there,” he said.
Southern Africa’s exploration circles are abuzz with talk of Shell achieving super-charged oil flow rates from production tests it has been running on its ground-breaking Graff-1x discovery well offshore Namibia.
Encouraging geological results from the Orange Basin are testimony of the huge hydrocarbon potential in the deep-water play of the Orange Basin.
‘Like a train,’ Oil flows at supercharged rate from Shell’s ground-breaking Namibia probe and sources say commerciality initial results will be available in the coming months.
Namibia is currently considered to be an emerging player in the global oil and gas industry and the country has attracted the attention of several international oil and gas companies due to its relatively unexplored offshore oil reserves.
Some of the companies currently involved in oil exploration in Namibia include:
ReconAfrica: ReconAfrica a Canadian oil and gas company that has been exploring for oil and gas in the Kavango Basin in northeastern Namibia.
The company has reported positive results from its exploratory drilling activities in the area.
Tullow Oil, a British oil and gas exploration and production company that has been active in Namibia since 2010. The company has exploration licenses for offshore blocks in the Walvis Basin and the Orange Basin.
Total, a French multinational oil and gas company that has been active in Namibia since 2013.
The company has exploration licenses for offshore blocks in the Orange Basin and the Lüderitz Basin.
Chariot Oil & Gas: a British oil and gas exploration company that has been active in Namibia since 2012.
However, it is worth noting that oil exploration is a complex and high-risk activity, and not all exploration activities result in the discovery of commercially viable oil reserves.
However, despite recent significant discoveries in the offshore Orange Basin, which are creating expectations of massive future oil revenue, Namibia is set to receive massive oil revenues only after 2030, a leading Namibian wealth management firm has concluded.
Despite recent significant discoveries in the offshore Orange Basin, which are creating expectations of massive future oil revenue, Namibia is set to receive massive oil revenues only after 2030, a leading Namibian wealth management firm said.
