Total’s gas condensate discovery, a game-changer for South Africa’s energy industry
Energy player Total, Thursday announced that it had 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 South African Head of State, Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of Nation Address in regard to this important discovery said, this will be a game-changer for the country and will have significant consequences for the country’s energy security and the development of this industry.
According to Total, 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.
The Block 11B/12B covers an area of 19,000 square kilometres, with water depths ranging from 200 to 1,800 meters, and is operated by Total with a 45% working interest, alongside Qatar Petroleum (25%), CNR international (20%) and Main Street, a South African consortium (10%).
Total has been present in South Africa since 1954. The Group is active on the whole oil and gas value chain and directly employs 1,000 people in the country.
