Africa Oil gains operatorship of South Africa deepwater block

Africa Oil SA Corp. gained operatorship and a 20% interest in Block 3B/4B offshore South Africa from Azinam Ltd. following government approval. 

Block 3B/4B—covering an area of 17,581 sq km—lies in Orange basin in water depths of 300-2,500 m along-trend of an emerging Mid-Cretaceous oil play where operators are planning to drill exploratory wells that have the potential to be play-openers for a world-class petroleum province, the company said in a release.

The partners have identified an inventory of leads and prospects from an existing 10,020-sq km 3D survey that covers most of the block.

During the initial three years, Africa Oil and its partners are to carry out regional subsurface review of existing seismic, geological and engineering data, and may also include some select reprocessing of the existing 3D data.

Separately, Africa Oil said it will participate in a $40 million capital raising by Impact Oil & Gas Ltd., the privately-owned, African-focused exploration company, on or about Feb. 14. The company will subscribe for 45.0 million ordinary shares for an investment of $12.0 million. Impact expects to use the proceeds to fund its interest in 2020 drilling campaigns that include drilling the Venus-1 exploration well on Block 2913B offshore Namibia, and Luiperd-1 well on Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa.  Venus-1, which is partially carried by the operator, Total, is expected to spud during this year’s first half. Luiperd-1 is the second exploration well on Block 11B/12B following the Brulpadda discovery in 2019 and is also expected to spud during the first half of the year.