On October 23, local time, South Africa's Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Mantashe visited the Luiperd drilling well in the waters near Moso Bay in the Western Cape Province of the country.
The area under exploration is called Brulpadda, which is about 175 kilometers from the southern coast of South Africa and covers an area of 18,734 square kilometers. The water depth gradually changes from 200 meters in the north to 1,800 meters in the south.
French exploration company Total said that the area may contain 1 billion barrels of natural gas and a large amount of crude oil.
The Luiperd drilling well started exploration in August 2020 and has so far hired 195 exploration engineers, aviation experts, hydrology experts, petroleum geology experts and marine experts and other local professionals in South Africa.
As South Africa's first deep-sea oil and gas field, this oil and gas field is likely to end South Africa's history of importing oil and gas.
Mantashe said that the project has invested 1.5 billion rand (620 million yuan), and the government is currently completing the "Upstream Petroleum Development Act" at "the necessary speed" to help release the untapped potential of upstream oil and gas reserves.
The project will revitalize the South African economy.
(Headquarters reporter Zhou Tao)