The energy giant, TotalEnergies, announced today from its headquarters in Paris, that it would be ditching Blocks 11B/12B and 5/6/7.
The blocks are off the Southern coast of South Africa, where TotalEnergies holds a 45% stake.
Permission to begin drilling Blocks 5/6/7 was obtained from the Department of Mineral Resources, about 9 months ago.
Then the company intended to drill about 5 wells there.
While the company said it is becoming too challenging to economically develop and monetize gas discoveries, some influential people in energy are blaming environmental pressure groups for recent legal debacles against the company. But James Mackay, CEO of the Energy Council of South Africa, said via social media, the decision to abandon resources is due to the difficult trade-offs of the energy transition. He said while it supports a global response to climate change, SA’s domestic and economic benefits are lost.
About 7 months ago, TotalEnergies launched its renewable energy project in South Africa. The project is made up of a 216 Megawatts solar plant, 500 MW/h battery storage system.
Once completed, the site will supply electricity to the grid, for the next 20 years.