As part of our 'at-a-glance' guide to company global operational activity, we feature Impact Oil & Gas.

Impact is a frontier exploration company with early-stage, deep water prospective hydrocarbon plays that are of sufficient size to attract Oil Majors as partners ahead of drilling. The company has built a varied portfolio of (mostly carried) interests across several licences in the African offshore Atlantic margin and has taken these from “green field” acreage to potential drillable prospects through detailed geological and geophysical work. In such areas, the deep water fans provide the potential for huge reservoirs of sufficient size to be material inventory for the multinationals.

Since acquiring its first asset offshore South Africa over a decade ago, the Company has expanded its asset base across the offshore margins of Southern and West Africa. It is now partnered with Shell in South Africa, CNOOC in AGC (between Senegal and Guinea Bissau) and Total in Namibia and South Africa. The Company’s current portfolio covers a combined area of over 200,000 km² (gross) (including an indirect interest in Block 11b/12b, South Africa). It has recently acquired a 90% interest in (and operatorship of) Area 2, offshore South Africa, giving it the largest footprint of any company in the Natal Trough off the country’s east coast.

Operations

AGC PROFOND

• CNOOC (Operator)  65%
• Impact Oil and Gas  20%
• Enterprise AGC  15%

AGC Profond lies across the principal sand fairway of the Late Cretaceous Casamance deep marine fan as well as the Jurassic-Cretaceous carbonate platform edge along the eastern flank of the block. Seismic interpretation is underway across two existing 3D surveys, Cheval Marin and Croix du Sud.

This petroleum system has recently been successfully tested by Cairn Energy with the FAN-1 and SNE cluster discoveries, located to the north of the AGC Profond block.

Whilst Kora-1, the only previous deep-water well to be drilled in AGC Profond, was drilled on the crest of a salt structure and lacked reservoir sand, a number of large untested structural and stratigraphic leads with good reservoir development can be mapped over much of the licence.

Impact signed a farm-out agreement with CNOOC-Nexen in March 2017.

NAMIBIA: 2912 & 2913B

• TotalEnergies EP Namibia B.V. 37.78% (Operator)
• QatarEnergy  28.33%
• Impact Oil and Gas Ltd 18.89%
• NAMCOR 15%

Blocks 2912 and 2913B are located within the northern part of the Orange Basin, an area that has attracted significant interest and excitement within the exploration community.  The Venus discovery sits in the Orange Basin, approximately 290 kilometres off the coast of Namibia, in the deep offshore.

In February 2022, the Operator TotalEnergies, successfully drilled the Venus-1X well to a total depth of 6,296m, discovering significant quantities of light, sweet oil, with associated gas within an Albian basin floor fan deposit.

Petroleum Exploration Licence 56, Block 2913B, is located offshore southern Namibia and covers approximately 8,215km² in water depths up to 3,000 metres. Impact entered the licence as Operator in 2014, acquiring 2D, then 3D seismic data which defined the Venus prospect. In 2017 Impact was subsequently joined by TotalEnergies, who bring significant deep-water drilling expertise to the Joint Venture, and in 2019 by QatarEnergy.

Geological setting
Whilst previous exploration wells since the Kudu Field discovery proved disappointing in Namibia, the ubiquitous presence of a World-Class source rock, known as the ‘Kudu’ shale, had kept the light of intrigue alive for committed explorers.  Impact had posited that the focus of exploration required a shift from the shelf and slope to the ultra deepwater plays further out to the west, directly ahead of the Orange River system of southern Africa.

Whilst previous exploration wells since the Kudu Field discovery proved disappointing in Namibia, the ubiquitous presence of a World-Class source rock, known as the ‘Kudu’ shale, had kept the light of intrigue alive for committed explorers.  Impact had posited that the focus of exploration required a shift from the shelf and slope to the ultra deepwater plays further out to the west, directly ahead of the Orange River system of southern Africa.

The light, sweet oil found at Venus, resides within high quality, thick, blocky turbiditic sands. Initial analyses from the Venus-1X well suggest that the discovery has confirmed or, in most-cases, exceeded pre-drill metrics.

The discovery of Shell’s Graff Field within the neighbouring 2913A block, proves the potential for further exploration upside within the Upper Cretaceous interval above the Venus discovery.

SOUTH AFRICA: ORANGE BASIN DEEP

• TotalEnergies E&P South Africa B.V. 77.78% (Operator)
• Impact Oil and Gas Ltd 22.22%

The application area is located along and beyond the ocean-continental boundary which forms the western margin of the Orange River Basin. The oceanic crust in this location is believed to date from approximately 135ma and initial sedimentation probably comprised highly organic deep-water marine shales of Neocomian age, representing the primary candidate source rock, with interbedded marine fan sands of Barremian to Aptian age being the primary candidate reservoir. These sands were the product of up to 2km of uplift and early to middle Cretaceous erosion of mainly Paleozoic Pan-African terrains from the adjacent coastal area, which were introduced to the marine basin through deltas belonging to the paleo Orange and Olifants rivers. Renewed hinterland uplift and erosion during the late Cretaceous may have provided further sand pulses into the deep offshore of the Orange Basin Deep TCP, forming potential secondary reservoirs and providing sufficient overburden to thermally mature Neocomian and Aptian source rocks.

A Technical evaluation is underway to assess the prospectivity of apron fans that have up-dip pinch-out seals against the outer high of the continental crust in the north-east of the Orange Deep TCP area and against oceanic crust in the west and south-west of the area.

SOUTH AFRICA: ALGOA & TRANSKEI

• Shell plc  50% (Operator)
• Impact Oil and Gas Ltd 50%

The Transkei & Algoa blocks form South African Exploration Right 12/3/252, located offshore eastern South Africa. The licence was initially awarded to Impact as a Technical Cooperation Permit in 2012, followed by an application for an Exploration Right, which was granted in 2014. The entire licence covers approximately 45,839km2 in water depths of up to 3,000 metres.

In 2020, Shell agreed to join the Transkei & Algoa licence, bringing with it substantial exploration expertise, but critically the technical and financial expertise to operate through development, in a success case.

In line with Impact’s strategy, the Transkei & Algoa areas offer multi-billion-barrel potential, partnered with a world class operator.

Geological setting
The Transkei & Algoa blocks, although awarded under the same licence, have different geological settings. The Algoa block is situated in the South Outeniqua Basin, a short distance east of Block 11B/12B, containing the world-class Brulpadda and Luiperd gas condensate discoveries.

The Transkei block sits off the Transkei Margin, in the Natal Trough Basin. The Natal Trough is an unexplored basin, which shares many of the geological fundamentals which have proven successful in the prolific Orange and South Outeniqua basins.

Transkei prospectivity
The Transkei block spans approximately 500km along the Southern African coastline between Durban and East London and contains the world’s largest transform fault, the Agulhas-Falklands Fracture Zone (AFFZ) which divides the narrow continental shelf from oceanic crust of the Natal Trough.

The Transkei blocks benefit from approximately 12,000km of 2D seismic data, acquired in 2013 and 2018. Using this data, the joint venture has identified highly material prospectivity associated with several large submarine fan bodies.  The seismic data has indicated that a number of such highly material base of slope fan leads exist along the Transkei block. The feeder channels to most of these have been severed by a combination of faulting and erosion by fault-related debris deposits, thereby providing large secure stratigraphic traps.

The 2D PSDM dataset has also allowed the mapping of several gas chimneys, and   amplitude conformance for at least one of the identified leads, providing compelling evidence of a working petroleum system.

Algoa prospectivity
The Algoa block lies within the north-eastern part of the South Outeniqua basin. It bears similar play concepts to Block 11B/12B, operated by Total, which contains the Brulpadda and Luiperd gas condensate discoveries. These involve Lower Cretaceous basin floor fan sands pinching-out southwards against the inverted structural high of the Dias Marginal Ridge. Both the reservoir sands and the source rocks are of similar ages to those recognised in the Transkei and Algoa blocks which have also successfully been tested in the South Outeniqua Basin.

Seismic data on the Algoa block is limited with only sparse 2D data currently available. However, Algoa has demonstrated the presence of Lower Cretaceous fan sands. Impact believe that prospectivity in Algoa will be mainly within the oil window. The joint venture will continue its evaluation of the block and determine whether to proceed with a 3D seismic programme to mature the existing concepts and leads into drillable prospects.

SOUTH AFRICA: AREA 2

• Impact Oil & Gas Limited. 90% (Operator)
• Silver Wave Energy Pte Ltd  10%

Impact entered into an agreement for Area 2 offshore South Africa with Silver Wave Energy Pte Ltd in November 2020 for 90% working interest and operatorship.

Area 2, Exploration Right reference 12/3/276 (Gamtoos, Algoa and Transkei Basins), is located offshore eastern South Africa and covers approximately 78,708km². Although water depths extend to approximately 4,500 meters, the prospective areas sit within 3,500 metres. The licence was initially awarded to Silver Wave Energy in 2015.

Area 2 lies within the emerging Southern African Aptian deep water oil and gas play, stretching from northern most Namibia, around Cape Agulhas and the Transkei margin, to the Durban Basin in the north-east. This play has been opened by the Brulpadda and Luiperd discoveries in the Outeniqua Basin and will be further tested during 2021 by the well on the giant Venus prospect in ultra-deep-water Namibia, where Impact is a substantial partner. Impact believes that there is good evidence for this Southern African Aptian play to have a common world-class Lower Cretaceous source rock, similar excellent quality Apto-Albian reservoir sands, and a geological setting suitable for the formation of large stratigraphic traps.

AGC PROFOND

• CNOOC (Operator): 65%
• Impact Oil and Gas: 20%
• Enterprise AGC: 15%

AGC Profond lies across the principal sand fairway of the Late Cretaceous Casamance deep marine fan as well as the Jurassic-Cretaceous carbonate platform edge along the eastern flank of the block. Seismic interpretation is underway across two existing 3D surveys, Cheval Marin and Croix du Sud.

This petroleum system has recently been successfully tested by Cairn Energy with the FAN-1 and SNE cluster discoveries, located to the north of the AGC Profond block.

Whilst Kora-1, the only previous deep-water well to be drilled in AGC Profond, was drilled on the crest of a salt structure and lacked reservoir sand, a number of large untested structural and stratigraphic leads with good reservoir development can be mapped over much of the licence.

Impact signed a farm-out agreement with CNOOC-Nexen in March 2017.

FINANCE

In April 2023, Impact Oil & Gas successfully raised US$95 million through an Open Offer to existing shareholders.

The capital raised shall be used, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Impact Oil and Gas Namibia (PTY) Ltd), to fund Impact’s participating interest share of the multi-well drilling programme in Namibia to further evaluate and appraise the Venus discovery; a world class, light-oil and associated gas field announced in February 2022. Impact holds a 20% participating interest share in Block 2913B (PEL 56) and an 18.89% participating interest share in the adjacent Block 2912 (PEL 91).

LEADERSHIP / CONTACT

Siraj Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer
Robert Wilde, Chief Financial Officer
Phil Birch, Exploration Director
Johnny Copelyn, Non-executive Chairman
Rob Nicolella, Non-executive Director
Paul Martinez, Non-executive Director
Pascal Nicodeme, Non-executive Director

IMPACT OIL & GAS LTD (UK)
Pollen House, 10 – 12 Cork Street, London, W1S 3NP, United Kingdom
E. info@impactoilandgas.com   l   T: +44 1483 750 588

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