TotalEnergies EP South Africa SAS (TEEPSA) will explore Deep Western Orange basin (DWOB) off the West Coast of South Africa 211 km offshore from the coastal town of Saldanha Bay in 500-3,900 m of water.
An exploration well drilling campaign will be conducted in the DWOB block, SLR Consulting Ltd. said in a release Aug. 8. TEEPSA is a client of SLR.
TEEPSA’s Area of Interest for oil and gas exploration covers 15,000 sq km. The campaign proposes drilling of up to seven exploration or appraisal wells. The work program includes vertical seismic profiling (VSP), testing, and plugging and abandonment.
The 3,000 sq km DWOB block borders Namibia to the north and PEL 39, areas of discoveries by TotalEnergies, Shell, Galp Energia SGPS SA, and Africa Oil Corp (OGJ Online, Oct. 2, 2024).
The Orange Basin Deep block sits within the same offshore basin as the major Venus and Graff discoveries, the Orange Basin, and encounters several of the same plays. Two geological levels of prospectivity exist, one in a deeper buried level in the Lower Cretaceous in the form of Aptian aged basin floor fans, equivalent to the Venus discovery in the Namibian Orange Basin, and an additional prospectivity in the Upper Cretaceous in the form of several Graff-equivalent leads which share a common trapping mechanism with the major Namibian discovery.
TEEPSA must obtain an Environmental Authorization from the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) prior to commencing with exploration.
TEEPSA is operator at DWOB block with 40% interest. Partners are QatarEnergy (30%), Sezigyn Pty. (20%), and Petrobras (10%).
