As the South African Licensing Round gathers momentum, Petroleum Agency SA, in conjunction with CGGVeritas, is making final preparations for a series of launch seminars. These will be run at three locations, Johannesburg (15 March), London (26 March) and Houston (29 March) and will be an essential resource for those looking to participate in this key exploration opportunity.


A successful data room is currently running at the Petroleum Agency SA offices in Parow, Cape Town, and further rooms are also being planned in London and Houston. With the closing date for receipt of bid applications being at the end of July, it is an important time for those looking at the merits of participating in what is a rare opportunity to gain access to such prospective acreage adjacent to proven hydrocarbon basins.


South Africa’s 2007 acreage is within two distinct tectonostratigraphic zones, the western offshore, known as the Orange Basin, which comprises a broad passive margin basin related to the opening of the South Atlantic in the early Cretaceous, and the southern offshore region, known as the Outeniqua Basin, which shows a history of strong strike slip movement during the late Jurassic/early Cretaceous breakup and separation of Gondwana. The Outeniqua Basin consists of a series of en echelon sub-basins (the Bredasdorp, Pletmos, Gamtoos and Algoa basins), each of which comprises a complex of rift halfgraben overlain by variable thicknesses of drift sediments. The deepwater extensions of these basins (excluding the Algoa Basin) merge into the Southern Outeniqua Basin.


In addition to the geological credentials of the region, South Africa also stands out as the most developed nation in Africa, as well as one of the richest. Whereas South Africa comprises only 4% of the area and 6% of the population of Africa, it consumes more than 50% of the continent’s electrical power. The economy is based on free market principles, and the country is one of the world’s major trading nations. This mix of economic and geologic strengths brings a potency to this licensing round uncommon in the current highly competitive exploration environment.


Details of the seminars and data rooms are on the Petroleum Agency SA website (petroleumagencysa.com) and CGGVeritas' website (cggveritas.com). Here also full details of the license round and maps of the available acreage can be found.

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