Canadian oil and gas company Africa Energy Corp. has received notice from the Petroleum Agency of South Africa granting a two-year renewal of the exploration right for Block 2B offshore South Africa.
Africa Energy holds a combined 90% participating interest and operatorship of Block 2B. Crown Energy AB holds the remaining 10% through a subsidiary company.
Block 2B covers 3,604 square kilometers off the west coast of South Africa with water depths ranging from 50 to 200 meters.
The block contains a proven oil basin with an existing oil discovery from the A-J1 well drilled by former South African state company Soekor in 1988. The A-J1 well discovered and tested light oil from a Lower Cretaceous sandstone section. The A-J graben is a typical rift basin related to the opening of the Atlantic in the Early Cretaceous and forms one basin within a greater trend of rift basins.
In addition to the A-J (southern) graben, Block 2B also includes significant prospectivity in the northern graben. This greater rift trend is similar to the East African Rift trend where major oil accumulations have recently been discovered in both the South Lokichar Basin in Kenya and the Albert Rift in Uganda.
Jan Maier , Africa Energy’s VP Exploration, commented, “We are excited to receive notice about the renewal of the exploration right for Block 2B so that we can commence operations for the second exploration period. We have recently identified additional prospectivity and potential drilling locations on Block 2B using the previously acquired 3D seismic.
“We expect progress on the hydrocarbons legislation in South Africa this year, and we are advancing in our farmout process with a view towards drilling a high-impact exploration well on Block 2B in 2019.”