Second major gas discovery off the coast of South Africa

French energy company Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Luiperd prospect, 175 kilometres off the southern coast of South Africa.

This discovery follows the adjacent Brulpadda discovery in 2019, which proved a significant new petroleum province in the region, the company said in a statement on Wednesday (28 October).

“We are very pleased with this second discovery and its very encouraging results, which prove the world-class nature of this offshore gas play,” said Arnaud Breuillac, president of exploration and production at Total. ‘

“With this discovery and the successful seismic acquisitions, Total and its partners have acquired important data on the Paddavissie fairway, which will help to progress development studies and engage with South African authorities regarding the possible conditions of the gas commercialization.”

The Block 11B/12B where the discovery was made 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%), CNR international (20%) and Main Street, a South African consortium (10%).

“The Luiperd well was drilled to a total depth of about 3,400 meters and encountered 73 meters of net gas condensate pay in well-developed good quality Lower Cretaceous reservoirs.

“Following a comprehensive coring and logging program the well will be tested to assess the dynamic reservoir characteristics and deliverability,” Total said.

In February 2019, Total announced that it has made a significant gas condensate discovery 175 kilometres off the southern coast of South Africa at the Brulpadda well.

The Brulpadda well (‘Bullfrog well’) – located off the shore of Mossel Bay – is one of several highly anticipated exploration prospects for the company.

Total has previously indicated that the Brulpadda field could hold between 500 million to over 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Read: Western Cape wants to be the first province to ditch load shedding as it moves away from Eskom