TotalEnergies says it is pulling the plug on its Brulpadda and Luiperd gas projects off South Africa's south coast on the grounds that they are not commercially viable. This represents a fresh blow to Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantahse's efforts to develop South Africa's hydrocarbon sector.

Listen to this article 4 min Listen to this article 4 min Total said in a brief statement on Monday that its Brulpadda and Luiperd gas discoveries were not commercially viable to develop.

"Following the decision of the partner CNRI to withdraw from Block 11B/12B, TotalEnergies also announces its withdrawal from this block, off the Southern coast of South Africa, in which its affiliate TotalEnergies EP South Africa holds a 45% interest," the French oil heavyweight said.

"TotalEnergies entered into Block 11B/12B in 2013 and made two gas discoveries, Brulpadda and Luiperd, which could however not be turned into a commercial development as it appeared to be too challenging to economically develop and monetise these gas discoveries for the South African market"

Exit

The company went on to say that it "has also decided to exit from offshore exploration Block 5/6/7 where TotalEnergies EP South Africa currently holds a 40% interest".

This represents a fresh blow to Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe's efforts to develop South Africa's hydrocarbon sector against the backdrop of the green energy transition and the global decarbonisation drive.

In the typical fashion of Big Oil, Total was opaque about the challenges to commercial development....