Petroleum company Total has announced that it has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Luiperd prospect, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua basin, about 175 km off the southern coast of South Africa.

The "game-changing" discovery, as Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe dubbed it, follows the adjacent Brulpadda discovery made in 2019, which proved to be a significant new petroleum province in the region.

Total had drilled the Luiperd prospect down to 3 400 m and encountered 73 m of net gas condensate pay in well-developed and good-quality Lower Cretaceous reservoirs.

Following a comprehensive coring and logging programme, the well will be tested to assess the dynamic reservoir characteristics and deliverability.

“We are very pleased with this second discovery and its very encouraging results, which prove the world-class nature of this offshore gas play,” says Total exploration and production president Arnaud Breuillac.

Further, with this discovery and successful seismic acquisitions, Total and its partners have acquired important data on the Paddavissie fairway, which will help to progress development studies. Total and its partners will engage with South African authorities regarding the possible conditions of the gas commercialisation.

The Block 11B/12B covers an area of 19 000 km², with water depths ranging from 200 m to 1 800 m. It is operated by Total with a 45% working interest, alongside Qatar Petroleum with 25%, CNR International with 20% and Main Street, a South African consortium, with 10%.

Mantashe strongly believes that the prospect will support government in its initiatives to revitalise South Africa's petroleum industry and inject more investment into the economy, in addition to the R1.5-billion that had been spent on the exploration of the prospect so far.

He mentions in a statement that the Upstream Petroleum Development Bill would soon be finalised, which will enable the sector to be fully operational.