New discovery opens new petroleum province offshore South Africa

Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospect, located on block 11B/12B in the deepwater Outeniqua Basin, 175 km off the southern coast of South Africa and about 180 km south-east of PetroSA's Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant.

The discovery opens ‘a new world-class gas and oil play and is well positioned to test several follow-on prospects on the same block’ according to Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration, Total.

Following the success of Brulpadda and confirmation of the play potential, Total (45%) and its partners Qatar Petroleum (25%), CNR International (20%) and Main Street, a South African consortium (10%) plan to acquire 3D seismic this year, followed by up to four exploration wells on the licence. 

Commenting on the news, Jonathan Markham, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, says: ‘Total’s announcement of the Brulpadda gas discovery off the southern coast of South Africa is a major boost for the country’s ailing oil and gas sector. Upstream production in South Africa has fallen by over half in the past decade and recent exploration has proven unsuccessful. However, despite the positive statements regarding the potential resource size of up to 1bn boe in this discovery and the four nearby prospects, previous upstream projects in South Africa have been technically challenging to develop. The geology in the area is very complex and it is in a harsh deepwater environment. Projects such as Ikhwezi and Ibhubesi have undergone delays and reserve write-downs due to these difficulties.’

He continues: ‘Offshore production of gas is supplied to the Mossel Bay GTL refinery, which is one of the primary revenue generators for PetroSA. Over the past few years it has struggled to source the necessary gas to continue operations and has been using more costly condensate imports. With existing gas sources declining rapidly, additional supply of around 200–300mn cf/d by the early 2020s is required to continue operations at the refinery. Natural gas is also used in other synfuel plants and power generation, although most of the gas turbine power plants, with total capacity for 300–350mn cf/d, are running on liquid fuels due to lack of gas supply.’

Markham concludes: ‘The Brulpadda discovery could have a similar impact on South Africa as the Zohr discovery did in Egypt. At the time of the Zohr discovery, Egypt was starting to plan for a future where the domestic gas production would not be enough to keep up with local demand for gas. Currently, South Africa imports gas from Mozambique and plans have been suggested for up to three new LNG regasification facilities to allow more imports into the country. Compared to other nearby gas discoveries that face significant delays, such as the Kudu development in Namibia or the giant fields in Mozambique and Tanzania, Brulpadda would be able to tap into a pre-existing local market where the infrastructure and demand is already present.’