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TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) plans to exit its gas discoveries off the tip of South Africa to prioritize exploration in areas closer to promising discoveries near Namibia, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
The company plans to give up its license for Block 11B/12B because it doubts whether the complex deepwater finds can be made commercially viable, given South Africa’s small gas market, according to the report.
TotalEnergies (TTE) will focus instead on exploring the Orange Basin, located further north on the Atlantic coast of South Africa near promising oil discoveries in Namibian waters, according to the report.
An exit by the French company would be a blow to South Africa, which lacks domestic sources of oil and gas, and could trigger QatarEnergy’s departure, joining Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), which already is on the way out.