TotalEnergies SE continues to test its Venus light oil discovery offshore Namibia, and while the operator awaits the dynamic data, chairman and chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanné said in an earnings call July 27 that “the oil column is very big.”
Pouyanné confirmed that an appraisal well was drilled.
The Venus discovery lies in Orange basin, about 290 km off the coast of southern Namibia in about 3,000 m of water. The Venus-1X discovery well was drilled to a total depth of 6,296 m by the Maersk Voyager drillship and encountered a high-quality light oil-bearing sandstone reservoir of Lower Cretaceous age (OGJ Online, Feb. 22, 2023; Feb. 24, 2022).
The first test will start early August, he said, and results are expected before the next earnings season in September.
Asked on the earnings call about expanding activity in the Orange basin across the border into South Africa, Pouyanné said the company’s current focus is on Namibia where the company has "a lot of oil in place." He said the company has geologists working on licenses in South Africa, but that the priority will be “to give value to Namibia if it’s confirmed.”
Second-quarter 2023
TotalEnergies had second-quarter 2023 adjusted net income of $5 billion, a decrease of 24% quarter-over-quarter. Over first-half 2023, adjusted net income was $11.5 million. Quarter-over-quarter, Brent was down 4% to $78/bbl and European gas dropped by around 35% to $10.5/MMbtu, said Jean-Pierre Sbraire, chief financial officer.
Oil and gas production was 2.47 MMboe/d, up 2% year-on-year on new project start-ups (Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 in Norway, Ikike in Nigeria, Mero 1 in Brazil, and Block 10 in Oman). Production also benefited from the integration of SARB and Umm Lulu in the United Arab Emirates, Sbraire said. Oil production was over 1.4 million b/d, up 12% year-on-year.
The exploration and production segment reported adjusted net operating income of $2.3 billion, down 11% quarter-over-quarter, primarily due to lower oil and gas prices.
Integrated LNG generated adjusted net operating income of $1.3 billion, down 36% quarter-on-quarter, reflecting lower LNG price and softer trading results.
Downstream contributed $1.5 billion of adjusted net operating income, down 23% quarter-on-quarter, reflecting lower refining margins, particularly in Europe. Refinery utilization rates on processed crudes improved to 82% in second-quarter 2023 from 78% in first-quarter 2023.