AfrOil: TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy to expand South African portfolio

The French super-major TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with its partner QatarEnergy to acquire participating interests in Block 3B/4B, located offshore South Africa, from Canada’s Africa Oil Corp. (AOC), South Africa’s Ricocure and Azinam, which is owned by UK-based Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas.

In a statement published on March 6, TotalEnergies said it had acquired a 33% participating interest in Block 3B/4B and would become the operator. Meanwhile, QatarEnergy will take a 24% stake.

The remaining equity in the block will be held by existing licence holders. AOC’s Africa Oil SA subsidiary will have 17%, Ricocure 19.75% and Azinam 6.25%. The transaction is subject to final approvals from relevant authorities.

“Following the Venus success in Namibia, TotalEnergies is continuing to progress its exploration effort in the Orange Basin, by entering this promising exploration license in South Africa,” said Kevin McLachlan, TotalEnergies’ senior vice president for exploration.