Upstream

TotalEnergies spuds most anticipated well of the year offshore Namibia

The 7th generation drillship Maersk Voyager is mobilised to drill the Venus prospect. Picture: Maersk Drilling

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The 7th generation drillship Maersk Voyager has spudded the Venus-1 well within Block 2913b offshore Namibia. The block is operated by Total E&P Namibia B.V. (40%) along with its partners Qatar Petroleum (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%), and national oil company NAMCOR (10%).

Namibia’s Block 2913b is located in the ultra-deep waters of the Orange Basin and at the maritime boundary with South Africa. Its Venus prospect is believed to be one of Africa’s most promising offshore prospects and could result in a multi-billion barrels discovery.

The well will target an enormous middle Cretaceous basin floor fan at the toe of the Orange river delta, targeting a potential of 1 billion barrels of oil.

Venus-1 is one of two very important exploratory wells being drilled offshore Namibia in Q4 2021. The second one is Graff-1 on PEL 39, operated by Shell Namibia Upstream (45%) along with its partners Qatar Petroleum (40%) and Namcor (10%). Valaris was selected to execute the drilling campaign at Graff.

Details on Block 2913b and PEL 39 exploration are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

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