RE:Reco: the goal of discovering a petroleum systemOne of the presentations in the upcoming Feb 2021 EAGE conference discusses:
Source Rock Conjugation in Future Exploration Offshore Southern South Africa
South Africa is once again in the spotlight with Luiperd-1 announced as a significant gas and condensate discovery following the Brulpadda-1 play opener in the Outeniqua Basin. Lower Cretaceous, Barremian to Albian source rocks have been interpreted all along the western margin of southern Africa but had not been associated with large hydrocarbon accumulations prior to Brulpadda and Luiperd discoveries. Along with many other recent discoveries, this is forcing us to break old paradigms related to source rock quality, thermal maturity, reservoir presence and trapping geometries in deep-water basins.
My point is the initial determination that a petroleum system was present did not result in the discovery of crude oil or natural gas.
This is possibly what could occur in the Kavango Basin, the determination that a petroleum system exists but without the finding of actual recoverable hydrocarbons.
Stay tuned, exciting times.