Eni has agreed to buy a 40 percent interest in an exploration permit granting rights to explore an offshore area of 82,000 square kilometres off South Africa’s east coast for hydrocarbons, the Italian oil and gas group said on Tuesday.
Eni sealed the deal with Sasol Petroleum International, the upstream oil and gas subsidiary of Sasol Limited, it said in a statement without disclosing any financial details.
Sasol had been granted the permit by the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA) in late 2013 and the accord is subject to government approval.
The deal “reinforces Eni’s position on the East Africa coast, where Eni is already present with exploration activities in Mozambique and in Kenya,” the group said in a statement.
The exploration right (ER) permit 236, of which Sasol would transfer a 40% ownership to Eni, was granted to Sasol in November last year and comprised the right to explore for hydrocarbons in the Durban and Zululand basins offshore KwaZulu-Natal.
Sasol would retain the remaining 60% interest in the permit.
“The establishment of our partnership with Eni in respect of our offshore South African interests complements Sasol’s strategy to develop sustainable energy solutions, which will serve to ensure all-important economic growth and development in Southern Africa and the broader region,” Sasol CEO David Constable said.
He (David Constable, CEO SASOL) added that the accelerated exploration of ER236 would have many positive benefits for South Africa and the broader region, in terms of energy security and increasing levels of international investment.
Eni was among a number of international energy companies to have entered South Africa – the continent’s largest oil importer – in recent months.
If like the geologically similar northern Palma-Mamba gas fields, the Zululand gas basin holds up to 75tcf of reserves, gas industry experts expect the Zululand basin gas to postpone and even replace the Karoo shale gas development too.
Source: Reuters