Initial results from a production test on TotalEnergies’ Venus oil discovery offshore Namibia are reported to be promising.
This follows early reports of positive results from a debut drill stem test on the potential 5 billion barrel discovery, according to Upstream.
TotalEnergies has been conducting tests on its Venus oil discovery, with results expected before the next earnings season this month.
The Venus-1X exploration well was spudded at the beginning of December 2021, utilizing the Maersk Voyager drillship. The Venus discovery is a light oil and associated gas field, situated in the Orange Basin, approximately 290 kilometers off the southern coast of Namibia, and at a water depth of approximately 3,000 meters.
The French energy giant has allocated almost 50% of its global exploration budget, totaling N$5.5 billion (US$300 million), to Namibia this year, with the aim of confirming the multibillion-barrel discovery in Block 2913B (PEL 56), located in the Orange Basin.
Block 2913B covers approximately 8,215 km² offshore Namibia, and TotalEnergies is the operator 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%.
According to Namcor, Namibia’s oil discoveries have the potential to double Namibia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2040, with the oil and gas sector anticipated to make an average annual contribution of approximately US$17 billion to Namibia’s GDP between 2033 and 2043.
