Recent oil and gas discoveries throughout the continent, including Namibia’s Mopane 1X and 2X, are spurring new drilling campaigns and investments across Africa.
Global E&P companies are ramping up exploration activities to unlock fresh reserves and maximize the Africa’s offshore potential with a number of high-impact wells planned for 2024 and 2025.
Up to 70% of wells drilled in Africa will be in frontier and emerging basins. Set to dominate the global high-impact well drilling market in 2024, the continent is projected to undertake 13 of the 36 high-impact well drilling campaigns anticipated for 2024, with oil and gas supermajors including bp, Chevron, Eni, Shell and TotalEnergies expected to dominate the sector.
TotalEnergies Intensifies Namibia and SA Drilling
TotalEnergies has set aside $300 million to fund its Namibian appraisal programmes including the Venus-2A in Block 2913B and Mangetti-1A wells.
The aim is to assess the oil potential in the Venus and Mangetti discoveries. The Venus-2A well is being drilled by Northern Ocean’s Deepsea Mira rig while the Mangetti-1X is being undertaken by Vantage Drilling’s Tungsten Explorer.
The firm is also investing in the Damara and Kokerboom 1X wells offshore Namibia and has several exploration wells lined up in the South African side of the Orange Basin.
Exploration efforts in South Africa include campaigns in Block 3B/4B, with TotalEnergies having increased stakes in the block in an acquisition deal with Africa Oil in March 2024.
Furthermore, TotalEnergies is also pursuing exploration activities in Block 5/6/7, located offshore the southwest coast of South Africa.
Shell Maximizes Namibian Appraisals
Shell is conducting high-impact appraisal wells to evaluate its recent discoveries offshore Namibia, including Enigma, Graff, La Rona, Lesedi, and Jonker.
The firm is using Northern Ocean’s Deepsea Bollsta drilling rig to evaluate the Enigma-1X discovery made in April 2024 under the Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 39. The company designated 25% of its 2023 – 2024 budget towards exploration activities in Namibia.
Chevron and PEL 90 Well
Chevron plans to drill an exploration well on PEL 90 in 2024 in Namibia. The firm has fast-tracked its 3D seismic acquisition campaign for the block in Q1 2023. Chevron entered the exploration license on PEL 90 in October 2022.
Arcturus 1 – Angola
ExxonMobil and Angolan NOC Sonangol are spending $200 million to drill the Arcturus 1 well in the frontier Namibe basin by the end of 2024.
The campaign aims to uncover new oil and gas reserves in Angola’s unexplored acreage, with production poised to commence in 2030 if proven successful.
Azule Energy Intensifies Block 28 Campaign
This year, international energy firm Azule Energy will conduct a multi-well drilling campaign in Block 28 in the Namibe Basin.
The block was awarded in December 2023, with Azule Energy awaiting official assignment for exploration.
Niamou Marine IX – Congo
TotalEnergies and global energy company Woodside Energy will drill the deepwater Niamou-1 well in the Marine XX block offshore the Republic of the Congo.
The well will target approximately 1,400 million barrels of oil and more than 2.7 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas resources, boosting Congo’s maturing hydrocarbon reserves.
The block was acquired by TotalEnergies in 2020, with the supermajor preparing drilling activities by mid-2024.
Alum 1x – Guinea-Bissau
Apus Energia Guinea-Bissau S.A. will drill the Alum 1X deepwater exploration well in the Sinapa license area offshore Guinea-Bissau.
The firm is leveraging the Ocean BlackRhino drillship provided by AGR as part of a services contract signed with the company in December 2023.
The drilling project, scheduled to commence by mid-late 2024, aims to unlock hydrocarbons in the southern part of the MSGBC basin.
PEL 85 wells – Namibia
In April 2024, Rhino Resources partnered with energy service company Halliburton for its deep-water multi-well construction project in Block 2914A under its PEL 85 exploration and production license in Namibia.
Slated to commence in Q4 2024, the project will include the drilling of over 10 wells, once the company secures an Environmental Clearance Certificate filed with the Namibian government in November 2023.
