Some of the numbers presented in this website may not be the most recent available
Globalshift.co.uk - copyright © 2009 to 2025; All rights reserved
2025
No significant news in 2025.
2024
Jul 2024: Following the decision of CNRI to withdraw from Block 11B/12B, TotalEnergies has also withdrawn. The compsny entered Block 11B/12B in 2013 and made two gas discoveries, Brulpadda and Luiperd. It will also exit from offshore exploration Block 5/6/7.
2023
No significant news in 2023.
2022
Sep 2022: TotalEnergies has lodged a production licence application for offshore Block 11B/12B before a deadline expired which might have seen the company forfeit its right to develop 2 large gas fields, Brulpadda and Luiperd discovered in 2019 and 2020.
Jan 2022: Kinetiko Energy has found strong flows of CBM gas in three onshore shallow Korhaan wells.
2021
Nov 2021: DNG Energy has received the country’s first-ever consignment of LNG from Rotterdam as a precursor to commissioning of its 1st floating storage unit in Q1 2022 cost US$5 bn.
Jun 2021: Total (operator, 45%), QP (25%), CNR (20%) and Main Street (10%) are assessing the feasibility of an EPS for phased development of the Paddavissie submarine fan fairway on Block 11B/12B. It will provide first gas and condensate from the Luiperd and Brulpadda fields in the Outeniqua Basin 175 kms off the southern coast in water depths up to 1,800m.
Apr 2021: Total (operator, 45%) will postpone an application for more drilling in Block 11B/12B containing the deep water Brulpadda and Luiperd gas fields. Currently over 80% of the country’s power comes from coal-fired plants and it is one of the world’s biggest CO2 emitters. The 45,000 bbl per day gas-to-liquid refinery at Mossel Bay is also running out of domestic gas feedstock.
2020
Oct 2020: Total (operator, 45%), Qatar Petroleum (25%), CNR (20%) and Main Street (10%) made a significant gas/condensate discovery in the Luiperd-1X well in Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin at a water depth of 1,795m. It is near the Brulpadda discovery of 2019. The well drilled 73m of net gas/condensate pay in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs.
Oct 2020: Kinetiko Energy announced that Afro Energy received approval to produce up to 0.014 bcm of gas annually for a 2 year period from pilot wells in the Amersfoort CBM Project (ER56 and ER38) by the Minister of Mineral Resources.
Aug 2020: Total (operator, 45%), Main Street (part owned by Africa Energy, 10%), Qatar Petroleum (25%) and CNR (20%) spudded the Luiperd-1X well in 1,795m of water in Block 11B/12B following the Brulpadda discovery in 2019. The block overlies the Outeniqua Basin with wells drilled in The Paddavissie Fairway of Cretaceous submarine fans in the southwest.
Jul 2020: Africa Energy announced the Odfjell Deepsea Stavanger semi-sub has departed Bergen to commence the upcoming multi-well drilling program on Block 11B/12B. The Luiperd-1 well will now be spudded in September in the Paddavissie Fairway. Block 11B/12B is located in the Outeniqua Basin.
Jun 2020: The Government approved the merger of 3 state-owned oil and gas firms to form a single National Oil Company. They are PetroSA, which is an explorer and runs the Mossel Bay GTL refinery, gas development company iGas, and the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) which manages fuel reserves.
Apr 2020: Drilling is expected to go ahead at Block 11B/12B, with the Luiperd-1 well, in June. Total (operator) will drill 3 wells on the block.using the Deepsea Stavanger semi-sub targeting submarine fans. The Brulpadda well, in early 2019, found 57m of net gas condensate pay in 2 Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. Total will also drill the Gazania-1 well on Block 2B in 2020.
2019
Nov 2019: New 2D and 3D seismic programs on offshore Block 11B/12B are planned by Total. They are expected to begin in December 2019 and continue through to April 2020. Partners completed a 570 sq km 3D survey over the Brulpadda discovery in April 2019. The next exploration well, Luiperd-1, will spud in Q1 2020.
Feb 2019: Total (operator, 45%), with partners Qatar Petroleum (25%), CNR (20%), and Main Street (10%), has discovered significant gas/condensate in the Brulpadda-1 well 175 kms off the southern coast in block 11B/12B within the Outeniqua basin. The well encountered 57 m of net pay in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. Partners plan a 3D seismic survey in 2019 followed by up to 4 exploration wells.
2018
Nov 2018: South Africa has joined the International Energy Agency (IEA) as an Association country. As the largest energy consumer on the continent, South Africa holds about half of Africa’s electricity generation capacity.
2017
Sep 2017: Statoil has acquired interests in 2 additional offshore frontier blocks, to add to a license it acquired in 2015 (35% of ExxonMobil-operated Tugela South). They are Exploration Right 12/3/252 Transkei-Algoa (also 35% and ExxonMobil-operated) and Exploration Right 12/3/257 East Algoa (operator, 90%). The remaining 10% is held by OK Energy.
Jul 2017: Odfjell Drilling has been awarded a contract by Total for one well plus one optional well to be drilled by the semi-submersible, Deepsea Stavanger, commencing after June 2018. The drilling of the firm well should take 60-80 days.
May 2017: Recommendations for the first shale gas licences in the Karoo basin will be finalised soon. Shell, Falcon and Bundu are among 5 applications being reviewed by the Petroleum Agency SA (PASA) with a determination due in the third quarter of 2017. Exploration rights will be valid for 3 years.
2016
Mar 2016: Exploration for shale gas will begin in the next financial year after delays led Shell to pull back from planned shale gas projects in the onshore Karoo Basin.
2015
Oct 2015: Total is to resume drilling offshore in the Outeniqua Basin in the second half of 2016 after stopping in 2014 due to mechanical problems with its rig. Total is operator of Block 11B/12B (50%) along with CNR International (50%).
Oct 2015: Statoil farmed-in to ExxonMobil's ER 12/3/154 Tugela South Exploration Right in water depths up to 1,800m. The company has acquired 35% leaving ExxonMobil (operator) with 40%. Impact Africa has 25%. There are no commitment wells before 2017.
Oct 2015: PetroSA has had a disappointing offshore gas drilling program after drilling 3 wells at the F-O field (Project Ikhwezi) but failing to locate significant reserves.
Jan 2015: Jumbo has completed the subsea installation of the replacement MEG riser for the Ikhwezi Project at the existing FA Platform. Project Ikhwezi plans to prolong the life of the Mossgas Gas-To-Liquids plant by tapping into gas reserves of the F-O field, developed as a subsea tie-back, 40kms SE of the existing FA production platform.
2014
Sep 2014: Falcon Oil & Gas has applied for a shale gas exploration licence in the Karoo Basin. Falcon was granted a Technical Cooperation Permit in 2009 and in December 2012 it announced a cooperation agreement with Chevron Business Development. The government is soon expected to issue companies with licences.
2013
Oct 2013: Kinetiko Energy has spud its sixth pilot production well on the Amersfoort Project northern licence (56ER). Three further pilot production wells are planned up to November 2013. Each well will have a total depth of up to 450m.
Sep 2013: Total has completed the acquisition of a 50% interest and operatorship of Block 11B/12B from CNR International. It is located in the Outeniqua Basin, around 175 kms off the south coast and covers an area of 19,000 sq kms with water depths ranging from 200m to 1,800m. Total will drill an exploration well in 2014.
Sep 2013: Molopo Energy will sell it interests in biogenic gas, including a production right granted in 2012. Molopo has undeveloped acres in the Virginia area in the Free State province and the Evander area southeast of Johannesburg. In its Virginia area gas flow continues from 11 pilot wells at 0.01 bcm per year. It has a gas sales agreement expandable to 0.08 bcm per year.
2012
Dec 2012: Sunbird Energy will take 76% of the Ibhubesi gas and condensate project off the west coast. Following PetroSA’s Ikhwezi project, Ibhubesi is the largest undeveloped gas discovery in South Africa. A 100 km pipeline to Island Point and an onshore gas processing facility are planned. Ibhubesi lies in Block 2A in the Orange basin, 150 kms off Northern Cape Province at water depths of 250m. Eight wells have been drilled since 1998. South Africa’s NOC, PetroSA, holds the remaining 24%.
Oct 2012: Australian Kinetiko Energy and partner Badimo Gas have started drilling a gas pilot production well on the Amersfoort project in Mpumalanga,. The well is the first of 3 on the northern tenement (56ER) to be drilled by early 2013. Three wells are also planned on the southern tenement (38ER). Each well will reach a depth of up to 450m and test coal beds and associated sandstones. The Amersfoort project is 250 kms east of Johannesburg in Mpumalanga (formerly Eastern Transvaal).
Sep 2012: PetroSA, South Africa’s national oil company, agreed with Cairn India to license Block 1 in the Orange Basin off the west coast covering 19,922 sq kms. Cairn will hold a 60% interest. The Orange Basin, near the border with Namibia, is little drilled. Both Shell and Anadarko are also now exploring in this region.
South and East Africa
