The massive French energy company TotalEnergies said on Monday that it was leaving two offshore gas sites in South Africa because they didn’t seem to be profitable. The discovery of the fields Brulpadda and Luiperd was made in a block off the southern coast of the nation, in which a subsidiary of TotalEnergies holds a 45 percent interest.
“It appeared to be too challenging to economically develop and monetarily develop these gas discoveries for the South African market,” according to TotalEnergies, therefore they could not be turned into a commercial development. The block is situated 175 kilometres (109 miles) off the south coast of South Africa and covers an area of 19,000 square kilometres (7,335 square miles).
A Canadian oil and gas exploration company, Africa Energy Corp, said that Qatar Petroleum, which owns a 25 percent interest in the block, has also declared its desire to leave the project. Through a subsidiary, Africa Energy Corp maintains a 10 percent ownership.
Twenty percent of the block is owned by another partner, CNR International, who had previously announced its exit in July. Africa Energy Corp declared that it had no intention of pulling out of the project and mentioned that, as part of a cooperative agreement, companies leaving the block will give up their ownership holdings to those remaining at no cost.
The gas fields are “the largest discoveries of natural gas resources in South Africa,” according to the business. “If developed could supply a significant portion of the nation’s energy needs as it seeks to transition away from coal-fired power plants,” the statement continued. Environmental organisations are against the idea because they believe that drilling in the deep waters will endanger the fishery and wildlife of the area.
