Oil major TotalEnergies has informed South African authorities of its intention to withdraw from the 11B/12B offshore gas field, but has not yet submitted a formal request to do so, a source at the Petroleum Agency, the government agency responsible for promoting oil exploration and development, said on Tuesday.
The French group had discovered significant gas reserves in Block 11B/12B off the coast of South Africa in 2019. Its withdrawal from the project is a setback for South Africa, which was counting on the gas to supply a gas liquefaction plant in the port city of Mossel Bay.
Negotiations on the price of gas between TotalEnergies and the national oil and gas company PetroSA have been stalled for years. At the same time, the French major has invested heavily in exploration in Namibia, where important discoveries have been made.
“The main reason (for the withdrawal) is the inability to secure a market for gas,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the information, first reported by Bloomberg.
(Written by Wendell Roelf and America Hernandez; Blandine Hénault for the French version, edited by Camille Raynaud)
