Total has announced a second significant gas condensate discovery in the Outeniqua Basin, located 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa.
The French oil giant’s announcement follows an adjacent discovery made in 2019, which provided huge hopes of petroleum riches for Africa’s most developed nation,
South Africa produces 41,319 million cubic feet of natural gas according to the worldometers.info data center. That leaves the country with a gas deficit as consumption averages 179,153 million cubic feet of natural gas per year since 2017.
Total believes that South Africa has close to 1 billion barrels of oil in its offshore blocks.
The latest discovery was made in a block operated by Total which has a 45% working interest, alongside Qatar Petroleum with 25%, CNR International with 20% and South African consortium Main Street with 10%.
It covers an area of 19,000 sq km, with water depths of between 200 and 1800 metres.
South Africa is resource rich, exporting huge quantities of minerals such as gold, chrome ore, cobalt, diamonds, copper, gemstones and magnesium.
