General Thoughts, page-1751

Why have one when you can have two?

TotalEnergies' latest Namibia exploration probe targets two reservoirs

"Mangetti-1X well also appraising huge Venus discovery, with further probes and 3D seismic on radar.

TotalEnergies’ Mangetti-1X exploration well in Namibia’s prolific Orange basin will also appraise the supermajor’s Venus oil discovery in Block 2913B, confirming an earlier report by Upstream. Once this well has been completed, the supermajor might target a prospect further north before turning its attention to the southern part of the block where a 3D seismic shoot is due to kick off early next year.

Roger Tucker, chief executive of Africa Oil — a listed company with an indirect 6.2% stake in the two blocks through its 31.1% ownership of Impact Oil & Gas — said the exploration target for Mangetti-1X is a “higher fan than was encountered” at Venus, but stressed the well would also drill deeper to target the northern extension of Venus. He suggested Mangetti will likely go through both objectives between mid-December and the end of this year, but cautioned that results might only be released by the operator during its February capital markets day. Once this well has been completed by the Tungsten Explorer drillship, a new probe could be drilled in the northern part of the block, Pouyanne recently said.

At the same time, Tucker told analysts late last week that additional 3D seismic would be acquired over the southern part of 2913B to cover the promising Damara and South Damara structures. “It looks extremely attractive, and the 3D will be shot in the early part of 2024.” By this time, results should also be known from the ongoing Venus-1A appraisal well where the Deepsea Mira has been performing drill stem testing and multiple flares were recently seen on satellite data. “This is an asset we have to focus our attention on because it is material to a company of our size,” said Tucker. "It is a very, very large block and we have follow-on exploration prospectivity.”