Majors pull out of flagship South African gas projects

Without a pipeline of developments in place, the country’s energy crisis is poised to worsen

South Africa’s energy ambitions suffered another setback with TotalEnergies’ recent decision to withdraw from a number of offshore blocks. These included the locations of Luiperd and Brulpadda, the two gas fields many saw as the most promising potential developments to help plug South Africa’s chronic energy shortages. TotalEnergies is withdrawing from Block 11B/12B—site of Luiperd and Brulpadda—and its 45% stake in the offshore asset, in addition to pulling out of blocks 5, 6 and 7. The French major acknowledged the Luiperd and Brulpadda gas discoveries but said it “could, however, not be turned into a commercial development as it appeared to be too challenging to economically develop and m