Map showing location of the TotalEnergies-operated Venus-1X well, offshore Namibia. Image credit: NVentures.TotalEnergies has made a significant discovery of light oil with associated gas on the Venus prospect, located in Block 2913B in the Orange Basin, offshore southern Namibia. The Venus-1X well (drilled with the Maersk Voyager to a TD of 6,296m in about 2,900m water) encountered approximately 84m of net oil pay in a good quality Lower Cretaceous reservoir. The reservoir and source rock are understood to be Aptian. The discovery represents an unprecedented success, where both source and reservoir sands were particularly high risk. Initial press reports suggest volume of up to 3Bbbls, the largest single discovery in West Africa perhaps. Without further detail, there is some debate on the actual volumes of oil versus gas, or if there is a condensate phase. TotalEnergies did carry out coring and logging, and refer to an appraisal programme, so hopes are high for commerciality in Namibia and adjacent in South Africa where the Orange Basin extends. Venus-1X was drilled between December 2021 and February 2022, where TotalEnergies is the operator with a 40% working interest, alongside Qatar Energy (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%) and NAMCOR (10%). Impact Oil and Gas have been working on this new play since 2014 and attracted larger firms via farm-in deals.
Author: Ian Blakeley, Nventures
