State-owned LNG giant Qatar Petroleum said it has entered into agreements with France’s TotalEnergies to take stakes in three offshore exploration blocks in South Africa.
Under the deals, Qatar Petroleum will hold a 25% participating interest in the South Outeniqua block, a 30% stake in the DWOB block, and a 29.17% stake in the OBD block.
The deals are subject to customary approvals by the government of South Africa, according to a QP statement.
“These acquisitions represent an excellent addition to our South African regional upstream portfolio, and build upon the positive progress following the recent drilling success in the 11B/12B block,” Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QP, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said.
The South Outeniqua block covers an area of approximately 49,000 square kilometers in water depths ranging between 200 and 5,000 meters.
TotalEnergies operates and holds the remaining participating interest in the block.
Moreover, the block is located directly south of the 11B/12B block where TotalEnergies, QP, Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Main Street Limited have announced significant gas condensate discoveries in the Brulpadda and Luiperd prospects.
The DWOB and OBD blocks cover a combined area of about 53,000 square kilometers in water depths ranging between 1,000 and 4,200 meters.
They are located in the Orange Basin directly south of Namibian blocks 2912 and 2913B in which QP already holds participating interests. In addition, they also sit in close proximity to Blocks 2913A and 2914B. QP announced a deal with Shell for these blocks earlier this year.
The other JV partners in the DWOB block are TotalEnergies with an operating 50% interest, and Sezigyn with a 20% interest.
In the OBD block, the JV partners are TotalEnergies with an operating stake of 48.61% and Impact with a 22.22% participating interest.