Despite a group of experts calling on financial institutions to stop supporting the French major’s oil and gas expansion in Africa, TotalEnergies has, for the first time, revealed the scale of gas resources it has discovered in Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa, which it plans to spend $3 billion to exploit.
According to BusinessDay’s findings, the French supermajor has been noticeably reticent to discuss the scale of these resources in a public setting ever since unveiling the Brulpadda and Luiperd discoveries in 2018 and 2020.
“But there was never a doubt these finds were big, otherwise the operator would not have forged ahead with a project in such a harsh met ocean environment — epitomised by huge waves and fast currents — based on the results of only two exploration wells,” Upstreamonline, an energy intelligence publication said.
The Luiperd and Brulpadda fields are within the Paddavissie Fairway, a hydrocarbon-rich area in the southwest corner of Block 11B/12B.
Luiperd is estimated to contain 2.1 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and 112 million barrels of condensate, while Brulpadda is estimated to hold 1.3tcf and 80 million barrels of gas and condensate, respectively.
Upstreamonline noted that a joint venture encompassing TotalEnergies EP South Africa (TEEPSA), QatarEnergy, Canadian Natural Resources International (South Africa), and South African consortium MainStreet 1549, held an exploration over Block 11B/12B.
Findings showed the development of the block could potentially revive state-owned PetroSA’s 45,000-barrel-a-day Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids plant, which has run out of feedstock. South Africa also plans to use the fuel to transition away from coal that’s used to generate nearly all of the nation’s electricity.
TotalEnergies spokesperson Stéphanie Dezaunay, said: “In South Africa, TotalEnergies is positioning itself as a player in the evolution of the country’s energy mix as part of the necessary transition from coal to renewable energies and gas”.
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“South Africa’s economy is still predominantly coal-based, accounting for 80% of its current electricity generation. Access to energy, and in particular meeting the growing demand for electricity, is a major concern in South Africa, where load shedding and power cuts have been almost a daily occurrence for nearly 15 years and where air pollution from fine particles linked to coal burning is frequent,” Dezaunay said.
She said the use of gas instead of coal would halve carbon emissions and “drastically reduce air pollution”. TotalEnergies was also working on solar and wind energy, she said.
The development came as five experts, winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize, called on financial institutions to stop supporting the French major’s oil and gas expansion in Africa which tramples on climate, biodiversity and human rights. The demand was presented in the European Parliament.
Makoma Lekalakala, Goldman Prize winner and director of Earthlife Africa, said French companies and financial institutions are once again trying to influence South African energy politics for their own interest.
“What they did for coal, they are trying to do it again for oil and gas, but we say no more. European decision-makers say that they want to support a “Just Energy Transition Partnership” with South Africa, but their big words ring hollow as long as they refuse to hear the people’s demands for a “real” “just” energy transition,” Lekalakala said.
