Years until Brulpadda roars
Rule of thumb is that gas discovery will take eight years to production
A significant gas find off the coast of Mossel Bay by French multinational Total could take at least eight years to come into actual production. The estimate is an industry rule of thumb for the time it typically takes an oil or gas discovery to translate into production, said Adewale Fayemi, GM of Total Exploration & Production SA, in an interview with Business Day.
A significant gas find off the coast of Mossel Bay by French multinational Total could take at least eight years to come into actual production.
The estimate is an industry rule of thumb for the time it typically takes an oil or gas discovery to translate into production, said Adewale Fayemi, GM of Total Exploration & Production SA, in an interview with Business Day.
The oil and gas company on Thursday last week announced it had, together with its partners, discovered significant amounts of gas condensate at its Brulpadda prospect, off the coast of Mossel Bay in the Western Cape. Gas condensate is predominantly gas but with traces of oil, Fayemi explained.
It is widely expected to be a game-changer for SA, generating significant revenues for the economy. The quality, or energy content, of the resource at Brulpadda, is yet to be determined as samples must be formally analysed.
Although “very excited” about the find, Fayemi said Total needed to drill more in the block before it could determine the extent of the resource.
Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné, however told Reuters there could be around 1-billion barrels of gas and condensate.
The Block 11B/12B is operated by Total, which has a 45% working interest, alongside Qatar Petroleum, CNR International and Main Street, an SA consortium.
They will now acquire 3D seismic data before drilling as many as four more exploration wells. But the next well is likely to be drilled only next year, Fayemi said. “These things take time. Especially in a deep offshore environment,” he said. Access is not easy and it’ sa highly technical exercise.
In 2014 Total SA abandoned efforts to drill at Brulpadda due to mechanical difficulties but in December last year it returned with a drill designed to withstand the harsh environment and water depths. Brulpadda is now the first deep-water well off the SA coast.
Fayemi said taking such a leap was in keeping with Total’s pioneering spirit. “We believed in the prospects and did a lot of engineering studies. We are happy and excited the solutions that were developed to drill the well worked,” he said.
Where the resource will ultimately go and what it will be used for will depend on how much there is, Fayemi said. Gas could be used as a source of power or an input into the chemicals industry. Condensate, which trades at a premium to the world oil price, could be used by petroleum refineries.
It all depends on the amount of resource found, Fayemi said. “If what you have at the end of the day is much more than what the [local] market can take, there are going to be other outlets.”
Meanwhile, environmental NGO Greenpeace Africa has condemned Total’s exploration as “reckless”.
According to the organisation’s senior climate and energy campaign manager, Melita Steele, “Discovering yet more oil and gas is not something to celebrate when burning fossil fuels is driving potentially catastrophic climate change.”
She said deep-sea drilling is far too risky as the possibility of a spill always exists.
The drilling process alone creates sound and light disturbances, which has been shown to be detrimental to marine life, the organisation said.
But Fayemi said conservation is a priority for Total.
“Our policy is no net loss or, preferably net gain, so we leave it better than it was.”