French oil major, TotalEnergies, has disclosed plans to begin oil exploration drills in the Orange Basin off the coast of South Africa.
Speaking to reporters during the oil major’s Q2 earnings call, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said the firm is proposing to drill up to 7 exploration wells offshore South Africa in the Orange Basin straddling South African and Namibian waters in southwest Africa.
With the planned campaign offshore South Africa, the French oil major needs environmental authorization and intends to tap potentially more resources in the Orange Basin, after making a substantial discovery, Venus, in the same basin offshore Namibia.
“We have some attractive licenses just across the border and we have actually two or three prospects, and we are working in South Africa,” Patrick Pouyanné said.
“The process to get all the authorizations is quite a little long, but we hope to begin to drill South Africa targets in 2026, from 2026.”
The supermajor is in talks with the Namibian public for terms to develop the Venus prospect, the executive said.
The negotiations take time due to Namibia being new to the oil industry and TotalEnergies being the first firm out of the gate to have plans for a project developed in the country, Pouyanné added.
Last month, Shell received environmental authorization to drill up to five deepwater wells to explore for oil and gas off the west coast of South Africa.
Both Shell and TotalEnergies have already made large discoveries offshore Namibia, in the same Orange Basin that spans South African and Namibian waters.
The basin extends to South African waters to the south and the majors are now looking to tap into these areas hoping to find huge resources similar to the ones in the Namibian portion of the Orange Basin.
However, red tape and court challenges to drilling offshore South Africa have impeded the majors from exploration off the country’s west coast.
While South Africa struggles to launch a domestic exploration and production sector, Namibia is weighing potential further incentives and financing options to offer to international majors preparing plans for oil production offshore the African country.
