Discover Africa's Oil & Gas Potential: Gain Expert Insights on Exploration and Production

Some big news coming out of Côte d’Ivoire from last week. On 14 June, Murphy Oil Corporation signed 5 new Production Sharing Contracts for offshore blocks CI-102, CI-103, CI-502, CI-531 & CI-709. The PSC negotiations had been ongoing since Q3 last year, with the Council of Ministers giving the green light to sign the contracts in mid-February 2023.

The awards constitute a country entry for the US company, as well as a return to African exploration, after Murphy withdrew from its positions in Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Namibia between 2013-2016.

Murphy has taken a 90% operating stake in the blocks, alongside the NOC PETROCI with 10% carried equity (aside from CI-103 where equity is split 85/15). This underexplored acreage, which lies west of Eni‘s giant Baleine discovery and covers a combined area of ~6,000 sq km in the Ivorian Basin, is most certainly being filed as a potential farm-in opportunity in Enverus‘ Global Scout upstream database, with Murphy likely to seek partners as it moves through the exploration phases.

TotalEnergies and Shell are pushing on with their aggressive deepwater exploration programme in the Namibian Orange Basin. Three rigs are currently being utilised, with the Deepsea Bollsta semi-sub (managed by Odfjell Drilling) contracted to Shell and in the midst of drilling the Lesedi 1X new-field wildcat, having recently concluded a successful DST in its play-opening Graff 1X oil & gas discovery well, located ~17km to the SE on the PEL 39 licence. Meanwhile, TotalEnergies has commenced the re-entry and flow testing of its Venus 1X ST1 oil & gas discovery well on PEL 56, utilising Odfjell’s Deepsea Mira semi-sub. The French major has also contracted VANTAGE DRILLING‘s Tungsten Explorer drillship, which concluded the Venus 1A appraisal well by mid-June 2023, before re-mobilising to the outboard PEL 91 licence to spud the Nara 1X NFW. This ultra-deepwater (~3,100m WD) well will test the westerly extension of the Venus play, with flow testing and appraisal drilling (subject to results) to follow.

Whilst the industry eagerly awaits future announcements from TotalEnergies and Shell regarding the reservoir deliverability and commerciality of their Orange Basin discoveries, Chevron and Galp are also looking to join the party and drill 2-3 of their own NFWs to the north of the current exploration hotspot in late 2023/early 2024.

As TotalEnergies (TTE) approaches FID for its deepwater Golfinho & Cameia development on blocks 20/11 and 21/09 in the Kwanza Basin, Enverus‘ Global Scout team notes the arrival of the Valaris Limited DS-12 drillship on the acreage in mid-July 2023 for the drilling of the Grenadier 1 NFW, expected to target an Early Cretaceous pre-salt prospect west of the Golfinho carbonate field. A further discovery here would add to the list of existing pre-salt discoveries made by former operator Cobalt between 2012-2016, all of which could offer opportunities for future tie-backs under TTE’s FPSO development hub concept.

 

Key to this greenfield project, which could come onstream in 2026, are the legislative incentives being put in place. The Council of Ministers recently approved PSC amendments for Block 20/11, which will see Block 21/09 and Block 20/15 (Lontra field) incorporated into the Block 20/11 concession area. Additionally, TTE will look to take advantage of the marginal field (<300 MMbo) fiscal incentives decreed by Angola in 2018.

 

With BP recently completing its exit from Block 20/11, TTE’s Kwanza Basin acreage is currently filed as a potential farm-in opportunity in Enverus’ Global Scout upstream database, with the major holding a sizeable 80% operated stake, in partnership with NOC Sonangol P&P (20%).