The article in Upstream TotalEnergies on target: High-risk drilling at global hotspot indicates supermajor has a huge field on its hands
Sources tell Upstream that initial results from Venus appraisal well in Namibia met expectations
22 May 2023 11:51 GMT UPDATED 22 May 2023 13:07 GMT
By Iain Esau in London
TotalEnergies has hit reservoir with a critical appraisal well on its huge, alluring Venus oil discovery offshore Namibia, with Upstream told the probe has met expectations.
Venus — and Shell’s earlier Graff discovery — generated huge excitement when it was found last year in Block 2913B of the Orange basin, with market speculation emerging at the time that it could hold 12 billion barrels of oil and many trillions of cubic feet of gas.
TotalEnergies has tried to dampen resource expectations, but its decision to spend half its 2023 exploration budget on a four-well, two-rig Namibian exploration and appraisal campaign underlines just how big Venus could be.
The drillship Tungsten Explorer is currently operating on the Venus-1A appraisal well, located in about 3000 metres of water, some 13 kilometres north of the Venus-1 discovery well, a bold step-out rarely encountered in exploration circles.
Upstream was told earlier this month that Venus-1A, which began drilling in early March, was in the reservoir and results to date are promising, according to two people with knowledge of the drilling operation.
“They are in the reservoir,” said one source, while the second person said “the well has come in on target” — a comment that implies the geology and the reservoir have met pre-drill expectations.“For such a high-risk probe, this news bodes well although the proof of the pudding will only come when the well is tested.
Vantage Drilling’s Tungsten Explorer will not carry out a flow test on Venus-1A, with this operation instead left to Odfjell’s drillship Deepsea Mira, which is due to arrive in Walvis Bay on Monday, according to marine intelligence provider VesselsValue.
Before carrying out a flow test on Venus-1A, however, the Deepsea Mira will carry out production tests on the Venus-1X discovery well.Once the Tungsten Explorer wraps up Venus-1A, it will head west to spud and possibly test the Nara-1 probe, targeting what could be a huge extension of Venus.
If Nara-1 is a success, the drillship will also drill and test an appraisal well.
Vast FPSO potential
One person familiar with the drilling campaign in Namibia, told Upstream that if the western extension of Venus meets expectations, then a development could involve multiple floating production, storage and offloading vessels.
"If (Nara) is as big as it appears to be, then it could require up to six or seven FPSO’s,” each with a capacity of at least 180,000 barrels per day.
Maggy Shino, Namibia’s Petroleum Commissioner, has suggested that the recoverable reserves discovered in Venus to date stand at about 2 billion barrels.
However, one informed source said this figure “probably” applies to the “main” part of Venus in Block 2913B, and not its potential extension into Block 2912.
TotalEnergies had not responded to Upstram’s request for comment by the time of publishing.