Meanwhile...TotalEnergies completes critical flow tests on huge...

Meanwhile...

TotalEnergies completes critical flow tests on huge Namibian discovery

"TotalEnergies has completed more than a dozen flow tests on an appraisal well at its multibillion barrel Venus oil and gas discovery in Namibia’s prolific Orange basin. For the time being, results are being kept under wraps by the secretive supermajor — the French giant did not respond to Upstream questions — but any sign of hydrocarbons flowing to surface in a well is positive.

One knowledgeable source last week said that “big” flares had been reported at the Deepsea Mira. This was confirmed by Africa Oil’s recently appointed chief executive Roger Tucker, who said there were “major flares” at the well location. These flares, he explained, disappeared and reappeared on satellite images as TotalEnergies switched the flow of hydrocarbons off and on to assess pressure build-up in the reservoirs. “So, we’ve tested hydrocarbons to surface at the Venus appraisal well,” Tucker told analysts during the company’s third-quarter conference call late last week. Upstream understands the flares were visible on about a dozen separate occasions between 9 and 12 November. Tucker said: “We would expect to see results in the next couple of weeks.”