Petroleum: Total to drill well off south coast

Total would drill an exploration well off the South African coast in a new phase of exploration next year, an official of the French oil company said yesterday. In September, Total acquired a 50 percent interest in Block 11B/12B from CNR International which covers an area of about 19 000km2. The field is in the Outeniqua Basin, about 175km off the southern coast, which is drawing exploration interest from other oil majors. Abiodun Afolabi, Total’s general secretary for Africa, added that authorities had granted permission to convert a technical co-operation permit on another block, Outeniqua South, where it hopes to shoot 7 000km of 2D seismic data. Total was aiming for a production target of 3 million barrels of oil a day by 2017, with deep-water production in Africa a key driver. Africa accounted for about a third of its hydrocarbon production and Total supplied 15 percent of the continent’s downstream market. – Reuters