Africa Oil announces an increase in the group’s direct interest in Block 3B/4B, offshore South Africa, to 18.0%. This block lies to the southeast and on trend with a number of Orange Basin oil discoveries including Venus, and is operated by TotalEnergies.  

The Company and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Africa Oil SA Corp. (“AOSAC”), have completed a transaction with Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Limited (“Eco”) and Azinam Limited (“Azinam”), a subsidiary of Eco, whereby Azinam has transferred a 1.0% (one percent) interest in Block 3B/4B to Africa Oil. In consideration, Africa Oil has exchanged the shares and warrants that it held in Eco for cancellation.

Africa Oil Chief Executive Officer, Dr Roger Tucker, commented: 
“This transaction is another step in delivering the strategy of increasing direct interest in Africa Oil’s key assets, including our opportunity set in the Orange Basin, a region with high levels of industry interest and activity. We thank Eco Atlantic's management for their collaborative approach in working with us since 2017, and we look forward to further progress towards the drilling of the first exploration well on Block 3B/4B.”

About Block 3B/4B

Block 3B/4B covers an area of 17,581 km² within the Orange Basin offshore South Africa in water depths ranging between 300m and 2,500m. This block lies to the southeast and on trend with a number of oil discoveries including Venus. There is approximately 14,000 km of 2D seismic and 10,800 km² of 3D seismic over Block 3B/4B, identifying a large opportunity set of exploration prospects, with the majority of the prospects lying in approximately 1,500m of water.

On August 28, 2024, the Company announced the closing of a farm down agreement for Block 3B/4B with TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy. AOSAC retained a direct 17.00% interest and transferred the operatorship of the block to TotalEnergies, for a maximum consideration of USD 46.8million, this includes the exploration carry for its retained interest, that is expected to be sufficient for two exploration wells. AOSAC will have the benefit of exploration carry for the additional 1.00% interest assigned to it by Azinam.

An Environmental Authorization for exploration activities (drilling of up to 5 exploration wells) was granted by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy for the Republic of South Africa on September 16, 2024. The legislative notification and appeals process is ongoing with the relevant regulatory agencies.

The Africa Oil group now holds a direct 18.00% interest in Block 3B/4B. Other partners in the block are: TotalEnergies with a 33.00% operated interest; QatarEnergy with a 24.00% interest; Ricocure with a 19.75%; and Eco with a 5.25% interest.

KeyFacts Energy: Africa Oil South Africa country profile