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TotalEnergies, Qatar Expand Orange Basin Holdings to South Africa 

TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy have longstanding agreements to partner on exploration and production in Namibia, Guyana and Kenya. (QatarEnergy)
TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy have longstanding agreements to partner on exploration and production in Namibia, Guyana and Kenya. (QatarEnergy)
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TotalEnergies, Qatar Expand Orange Basin Holdings to South Africa 

TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy have longstanding agreements to partner on exploration and production in Namibia, Guyana and Kenya. (QatarEnergy)
TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy have longstanding agreements to partner on exploration and production in Namibia, Guyana and Kenya. (QatarEnergy)

TotalEnergies and Qatar's oil company on Wednesday said they would buy a stake in a license to seek oil and gas off South Africa as part of their plans to develop the Orange basin area in neighboring Namibia.

The French company will buy a 33% stake in the license to drill in offshore block 3B/4B, which extends over about 18,000 square kilometers, while state-owned QatarEnergy will hold a 24% stake, the two companies said without disclosing the value of the deal.

The remainder will be controlled by the existing owners of the project Africa Oil, Azinam, which is owned by Canada-listed Eco Atlantic and Ricocure.

TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy have longstanding agreements to partner on exploration and production in Namibia, Guyana and Kenya.

Block 3B/4B is located in South Africa's side of the Orange Basin, just south of big discoveries by Galp, Shell and TotalEnergies' own Venus discovery in neighboring Namibia.

"Following the Venus success in Namibia, TotalEnergies is continuing to progress its Exploration effort in the Orange Basin," said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice-President Exploration of TotalEnergies.

Namibia, which has no oil and gas production, has become a global exploration hotspot after deep water discoveries by Shell, TotalEnergies and Galp in recent years.

Eco Atlantic CEO Gil Holzman told Reuters: "TotalEnergies are the best partner one could have, they know the Orange Basin better than anyone else, they have a drilling rig in the area, and they are a great operator with a strong balance sheet."

The Orange Basin is largely unexplored, with dozens of legacy wells drilled in shallow shelf waters along South Africa’s coastline.

"South Africa's side of the Orange Basin resembles those of Namibia, it is highly prospective with at least two prospects in the northern region of the basin potentially containing millions of barrels of oil and associated gas," said Jonathan Salomo, the lead geologist for the West coast at the Petroleum Agency of South Africa.

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OPEC Secretary General: Producing Critical Minerals in Future Not Only Dependent on Renewable Energy

Trucks transporting minerals from the mountains (Getty)
Trucks transporting minerals from the mountains (Getty)
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OPEC Secretary General: Producing Critical Minerals in Future Not Only Dependent on Renewable Energy

Trucks transporting minerals from the mountains (Getty)
Trucks transporting minerals from the mountains (Getty)

OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said on Monday that those that talk of critical minerals delivering the world a future of only renewables and EVs, are not providing a full picture.

In an article published on the organization’s official website, Al Ghais spoke about the many future energy pathways for nations and peoples across the world, affirming that “we all need to be realistic about how these can be achieved.”

Al Ghais said that sustainable energy pathways are vital for populations all over the world. However, he noted, “we need to appreciate the real-world impacts of scenarios and policies aimed at ramping up renewables and electric vehicles (EVs). There are many elements that filter into this, a central one being the role played by critical minerals.”

At this point, he mentioned the International Energy Agency (IEA), which says that in its Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050 Scenario, demand for critical minerals quadruples by 2040.

“It is a pace never seen before in history,” Al Ghais wrote.

He noted that while these minerals, such as copper, cobalt, silicon, nickel, lithium, graphite and rare earths underpin the development of renewables and EVs, OPEC Member Countries are investing heavily in renewables, in all stages of their supply chains, and participating in the development of EVs.

OPEC attaches an importance “to the role of renewables and electrification in our energy future,” he said.

Al Ghais then posed several questions on the nature of such an expansion of critical mineral requirements.

“Is this kind of expansion truly feasible? What are the implications? How sustainable is it? And how important is oil and gas to the expansion of critical minerals, as well as renewables, EVs and grids,” he asked.

In the mentioned IEA scenario, Al Ghais said that by 2040, copper demand rises by 50%, rare earths demand almost doubles, cobalt demand more than doubles, and nickel demand is close to tripling.

“These are nowhere near the largest increases either. Graphite demand grows almost four times, and lithium sees a nearly ninefold expansion by 2040, underlining its crucial role in batteries,” he noted.

The OPEC Secretary General affirmed that this will require the construction of a huge number of new mines.

“Back in 2022, the IEA said that by 2030 alone, the world would need to build 50 new lithium mines, 60 new nickel mines and 17 cobalt mines,” he said.

He added, “It should be borne in mind that, historically, critical supply chain projects, such as for these types of commodities, have had long development lead times, from discovery to first production.”

Here, Al Ghais asked another question: is such growth realistic? And what might the impact be if growth comes up short, and equally importantly, what if policymakers have also followed a path of no longer investing in new oil and gas projects?

The Secretary General said EVs, wind turbines, solar panels, as well as new grids, are all hungry for critical minerals.

“An EV contains approximately 200 kg of minerals,” he explained. “For contrast, a conventional car uses around 34 kg. One megawatt of electricity produced by an offshore wind turbine requires around 15 tons of minerals, while the figure for solar is around seven tons. For natural gas, it is just over 1 ton.”