TotalEnergies SE has signed a deal to acquire operatorship of Block 3B/4B, a license adjacent to its operated DWOB block on the South African side of the Orange Basin.The agreement with 3B/4B current operator Africa Oil SA Corp. and 3B/4B co-venturer Ricocure (Proprietary) Ltd. farms down a combined 57 percent to the French energy giant and its DWOB partner QatarEnergy, according to separate news releases by Africa Oil SA parent company Africa Oil Corp. and TotalEnergies.
Subject to approvals by authorities, a 33 percent holding will go to TotalEnergies while QatarEnergy will get 24 percent. Current majority owner Ricocure, a local player, will have its interest reduced to 19.75 percent from 53.75 percent. Canada-based Africa Oil will have 17 percent, down from 26.25 percent. Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd., also headquartered in Canada, will retain 6.25 percent through subsidiary Azinam Group Ltd.
The Africa Oil portion of the deal is valued at up to $46.8 million. “Africa Oil will receive, subject to achieving certain milestones defined in the Agreement, staged payments for a total cash amount of $10.0 million, of which $3.3 million is payable at Completion”, Africa Oil said, adding the remaining balance will be fulfilled in two successive payments upon the satisfaction of agreed operational and regulatory milestones.
“Africa Oil will also receive a full carry of its 17.00 percent retained share of all JV [joint venture] costs, up to a cap, that is repayable to TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy from production, and which is expected to be adequate to fund the Company’s share of drilling for up to two wells on the license”, it added.The purchase value for the Ricocure stake was not disclosed by either press release.
Located 124.3 miles (200 kilometers) off the western coast of South Africa, Block 3B/4B spans 6,788.1 miles (17,581 square kilometers) and has water depths ranging from 984.3 feet (300 meters) to 8,202.1 feet (2,500 meters). “This block lies to the southeast and on trend with number of oil discoveries including Venus and Graff”, Africa Oil noted.
The Graff 1 deepwater oil discovery in the Namibian side of the Orange Basin was announced February 4, 2022, by the National Petroleum Corp. of Namibia (Namcor), a 10 percent co-venturer. Shell PLC is the operator with a 45 percent stake, while QatarEnergy also has 45 percent.Just days later on February 24, 2022, TotalEnergies unveiled the Venus 1X oil discovery, also on the Namibian side of the basin. TotalEnergies is the operator with a 40 percent interest. QatarEnergy holds 30 percent, Impact Oil and Gas Ltd. 20 percent and NAMCOR 10 percent.
On the South African side of the basin TotalEnergies operates the DWOB block with a 50 percent interest. QatarEnergy holds 30 percent and Sezigyn 20 percent. It lies adjacent to Block 3B/4B.“Following the Venus success in Namibia, TotalEnergies is continuing to progress its Exploration effort in the Orange Basin, by entering this promising exploration license in South Africa”, Kevin McLachlan, senior vice-president for exploration at TotalEnergies, said in a statement.
Block 3B/4B has unrisked prospective oil of 3.1 billion stock tank barrels in the best-estimate scenario and unrisked prospective associated gas of 5.5 trillion cubic feet in the best-estimate scenario, according to a report by Africa Oil March 7, 2023.Africa Oil chief executive Roger Tucker commented, “Attracting TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy as our new partners in Block 3B/4B is an endorsement of the exploration potential of the block”.
“These opportunities are on trend with the discoveries in Namibia’s Orange Basin, including Venus in Block 2913B”, Tucker added. “Both companies have deep geological knowledge of the basin with successful nearby discoveries. TotalEnergies, as the new operator, also brings extensive deepwater drilling and development expertise”.
Source:https://www.rigzone.com