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Total has made a "significant" discovery of gas condensate with a well-drilled well on the Brulpadda prospect off South Africa, which is expected to open a new offshore area.
The Bruldpadda-1AX well revealed 57 meters net charge of gas condensate in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs, after being drilled by the semi-submersible Deepsea Stavanger on Block 11B / 12B in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 km from the coast. south of the country, Total said in a statement.
He said the well had also been mined to a greater depth after being deepened to a final depth of 3,633 meters by the platform owned by Odfjell Drilling, after reaching the main goal.
"With this discovery, Total has opened a new world-clbad oil and gas market and is well positioned to test multiple prospects on the same block," said Kevin McLachlan, Executive Vice President of Total at Exploration.
The high-profile probe, drilled in difficult weather conditions with high waves and swirling currents at a depth of 1322 meters, opened the so-called Paddavissie lane.
C & # 39; was spudded end of December, following the reintegration of a first probe drilled in 2014, which was to be abandoned by another platform because of environmental problems and which targeted potential raw resources of more than 500 million barrels of oil.
Although it is expected to be a carrier of oil, any discovered gas could be routed to PetroSA's Mossel Bay gas oil processing plant, which is running out of raw materials. because of the depletion of nearby offshore gas fields.
This discovery could change the situation for the country, which relies heavily on coal to meet its demand for electricity and plans to import more gas.
The French operator and its partners are now planning four more exploration wells on the same block after the planned acquisition of 3D seismics later this year.
Brulpadda is one of five potential Aptian-Albian fans with direct hydrocarbon indicators, the others being Platanna, Woudboom, Luiperd and Blaasop.
Total holds 45% of the 19,000 square kilometer block, with partners Qatar Petroleum (25%), Canadian Natural Resources (20%) and the South African Main Street consortium (10%).
Total, present in South Africa since 1954, is also a shareholder of the South Outeniqua block located in the same basin.
The company announced a 10% increase in net income in the fourth quarter, to $ 3.2 billion, from $ 2.9 billion a year earlier, while the turnover was in 28% increase to $ 13.6 billion.
The company benefited from a rise in average oil prices of $ 71 a barrel last year and an 8% increase in annual oil production, reaching a record of 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. and the maintenance of financial discipline after further cuts of $ 4.2 billion, according to Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne.
Total witnessed the start-up of several major projects last year, including Icthys (Australia), Yamal LNG (Russia) and deepwater projects Kaombo North (Angola) and Engina (Nigeria).
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