QatarEnergy enters new exploration block offshore South Africa

Under the agreement, QatarEnergy will acquire a 24 percent participating interest whereas TotalEnergies will hold 33 percent and will be the operator.

QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies on Wednesday said they would buy a stake in a licence to seek oil and gas off South Africa as part of their plans to develop the Orange Basin area in neighbouring Namibia.

Under a farm-in agreement with Africa Oil Corporation, Ricocure, and Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas, the Qatari and French companies acquired interests in the exploration blocks 3B and 4B.

“The farm-in to Block 3B/4B builds on our presence in the prolific Orange Basin. We are pleased to enter this block together with our strategic partner TotalEnergies, and we look forward to working together with our partners and the relevant government entities in South Africa,” Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said.

Under the agreement, QatarEnergy will acquire a 24 percent participating interest whereas TotalEnergies will hold 33 percent and will be the operator.

The remaining interest will be held by the remaining companies. Africa Oil Corporation will have 17 percent interest, Ricocure 19.75 percent, and Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas will hold 6.25 percent.

QatarEnergy unveils North Field West expansion plan, aiming for 142 mtpa LNG production by 2030

The exploration blocks cover an area of more than 17,500 square kilometres within the Orange Basin, with the water depths measuring between 300 and 2,000 meters.

“Following the Venus success in Namibia, TotalEnergies is continuing to progress its Exploration effort in the Orange Basin,” Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice-President Exploration of TotalEnergies, said.

In July 2021, QatarEnergy, known as Qatar Petroleum at the time, signed an agreement with France’s TotalEnergies to enter three offshore exploration blocks in South Africa. The Gulf state acquired 25 percent of the block.

During April of the same year, the Qatari company entered a similar deepwater agreement in Namibia with Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas giant Shell. Qatar acquired 45 percent of the exploration license, which was also the Gulf state’s second in Namibia.

In 2020, the Qatari company signed three farm-in agreements with Total to obtain almost 30 percent of the French firm’s interest in blocks 15, 33, and 34 in the Campeche basin offshore Mexico.

The energy giant is moving towards becoming the world’s largest producer of LNG through the multi-billion dollar North Field expansion project. The project would enable Qatar to ramp up its production capacity to increase from 77 million metric tonnes to 126 million tonnes by 2027.

Last week, QatarEnergy announced a new expansion project, North Field West, for its liquified natural gas. The expansion would boost the local LNG production to 142 million tonnes per annum before the end of 2030.

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