The Venus discovery made by TotalEnergies is Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest ever oil find.
This was related by Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd. in a recent report marketing the prospectivity of its acreages in the African Orange Basin.
Discovered in Block 2913B off the coast of Namibia, the Venus 1-X well encountered approximately 84 meters of net oil pay in a good quality Lower Cretaceous reservoir.
Senior Vice President for Exploration at TotalEnergies, Kevin McLachan, said, “This discovery offshore Namibia and the very promising initial results prove the potential of this play in the Orange Basin…”
According to Eco, the Venus well holds at least 3 billion barrels. It said Wood Mackenzie made this estimate “conservatively”.
Block 2913B covers approximately 8,215 km² in deep offshore Namibia. TotalEnergies is the operator with a 40% working interest, alongside QatarEnergy (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%) and NAMCOR (10%).
Westwood Global Energy Group said Venus, along with the Graff-1 well discovered by Shell in nearby Block 2913A, prove the existence of a prolific oil kitchen. Its analysis suggests that the Lower Cretaceous Venus play has a potential extent of up to ~58,000 square kilometers (km²), comparable to that of the Upper Cretaceous of Suriname-Guyana.
Breakthrough discoveries off Namibia coast mirror Guyana basin oil play – Westwood | OilNOW
In the same Orange Basin, but off the coast of South Africa, Eco has stakes in two blocks. In Block 2B, it is the operator with a 50% stake. In Block 3B/4B, it has a 26.25% stake.
Building off the excitement from the two breakthrough oil finds, which have made the Orange Basin Africa’s most exciting exploration hotspot, Eco is targeting 349 million barrels of oil at the Gazania-1 well in Block 2B, in this quarter.
Eco has interests in the Orinduik and Canje Blocks offshore Guyana. TotalEnergies has stakes in the Canje and Orinduik Blocks.
