French oil supermajor, TotalEnergies, has spudded the ultra-deepwater Venus-1X exploration well in Block 2913B, offshore southern Namibia, using offshore drilling operator, Maersk Drilling’s, Maersk Voyager drillship, in water depths of 3,000m, potentially transforming the southern-African country’s energy industry.
Announced by privately owned oil and gas exploration company, Impact Oil & Gas, on 1 December, which owns a 20% interest in Block 2913B, the well is targeting a large basin floor fan system, projected to contain significant undiscovered petroleum resources in place following the acquisition of 2D and 3D seismic data in 2014, which defined the Venus prospect.
Siraj Ahmed, CEO of Impact Oil & Gas, stated, “This is an exciting moment for Impact and our shareholders. Impact, together with our partners in the Government of Namibia, have been working to mature and drill the Venus prospect since 2014. Venus-1X is a world-class, basin operating well, which, if successful, could be transformative for Namibia.”
Block 2913B is by TotalEnergies (40%), Impact Oil & Gas (20%), Qatari state-owned petroleum company, Qatar Energy (30%), and Namibian state oil company, Namcor (10%).
Maersk Drilling’s Maersk Voyager drillship traveled from Luanda, Angola, to Namibia in mid-November, where it was used to drill the Ondjaba-1 Well in record-breaking water-depths of 3,628m.
“I am very pleased that drilling operations for Venus-1X have commenced,” stated Keith Hill, President and CEO of Africa Oil, a shareholder in Impact Oil & Gas, adding, “As a potential basin opening well, if successful, this could be a high-impact catalyst for our shareholders.”