TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Tuesday that he is confident that the company’s Venus oil and gas discovery in Namibia will be developed and generate a return for the French oil major.
“Venus is a large discovery. We’ll have a development for sure — maybe two. There is oil, for sure,” Pouyanne said.
He added that earlier drilling explorations in the western part of the discovery block were “negative”, but they are exploring other prospects.
Last month, TotalEnergies confirmed that the Nara-1X exploration probe was a failure, with no hydrocarbons found.
However, the company also announced positive results in September from the Venus-1A appraisal well, situated in Block 2913B, approximately 13 kilometres north of the Venus-1X discovery well. The French oil company then disclosed that it had also achieved positive results from the Venus-1X flow test, with confirmation pending from the upcoming flow test of Venus-1A.
“We’re now drilling a new exploration well in the north [of the licence block],” he said.
Regarding the size, the TotalEnergies CEO told the company’s capital markets last month that the Venus discovery is at least 1 billion barrels, adding that the find holds associated gas.
Africa Oil Corp announced early this month that its investee company, Impact Oil and Gas Limited, and its partners, TotalEnergies are set to conduct a flow test of Venus-1A — the second successful well in the Venus discovery — in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The French energy giant has allocated nearly 50% of its global exploration budget, totalling N$5.5 billion (US$300 million), to Namibia this year, with the goal of confirming the multibillion-barrel discovery in Block 2913B (PEL 56) within the Orange Basin.
Block 2913B covers approximately 8,215km² offshore Namibia, and TotalEnergies operates it with a 40% working interest, alongside QatarEnergy with 30%, Africa Oil’s Impact Oil and Gas with 20%, and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) with 10%.
TotalEnergies is presently conducting a multi-well appraisal and exploration drilling programme in Namibia using two rigs.- The Brief/Upstream
