South Africa's Deep Waters Hold Oil and Gas Potential: Minister Mantashe

Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said that the discovery of gas and condensate from two exploration wells in the South Outeniqua Basin shows that South Africa's deep waters - which have not been explored much - have significant potential for oil and gas.

Mantashe, while speaking at Africa Oil Week, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, said the discovery of gas and condensate from two exploration wells in the South Outeniqua Basin are proof that South Africa's underexplored deep waters have significant potential for oil and gas.

Mantashe highlighted that in the past two years, TotalEnergies, Shell, and Galp made eight discoveries in Namibia's Orange Basin, estimated to contain around 3.5 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil.

These findings have generated considerable interest from major petroleum companies, as it is believed that these discoveries could extend southward into South Africa, as per the minister.

He emphasized that the recent discoveries of gas and condensate from the offshore exploration wells indicate the need to speed up exploration efforts in South Africa's under-explored deep waters.

Minister Mantashe also commented on the withdrawal of the international energy company TotalEnergies from offshore Block 11B/12B and 5/6/7, noting that development in these blocks is still possible and viable.

"[There] remains a good potential for other oil and gas players to partner with the remaining operator – MainStreet - and develop the block," he said, SA News Reported.

He added, "Contrary to the view that suggests that TotalEnergies withdrawal from the block is tantamount to lack of confidence, it is encouraging that the company is a major shareholder in 3 blocks North of South Africa's Orange Basin in the deep to ultra-deep waters, and a 100% shareholder of another larger block that is 3 times the size of the 11b/12b in Southern Outeniqua."

The minister said that several exploration projects in the South African Orange Basin are preparing for development. These projects include:

• Preparation work for drilling in the Deep-Water Orange Basin (DWOB) block, which is operated by TotalEnergies.
• A plan to drill an exploration well in Block 3B/4B, with the option to drill up to four more wells.
• The Northern Cape Ultra-Deep-Water Block has begun environmental authorization processes for drilling.
• Significant progress has been made on Block 5/6/7, with plans to start drilling exploration in 2026, aiming for large oil and gas resources.

Mantashe mentioned that the main risk for these projects is potential legal action against exploration and production activities.

Last month, Vice President Kashim Shettima welcomed ExxonMobil's plan to invest $10 billion in Nigeria's deep-water oil operations, noting that this will encourage investment through the government's economic reforms and policies.