AEW 2026: Orange Basin Session to Target S.Africa's Upstream Potential

South Africa's Orange Basin is entering a new phase of exploration, appraisal and development. Major international companies are positioning acreage for drilling and investment.

African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 will host a session titled "South Africa Upstream: Appraising the Orange Basin from Discovery to Production," which will examine how the basin can move from geological potential to commercial production.

The session runs as part of AEW 2026 in Cape Town from 12 to 16 October. Two of the basin's key blocks are seeing renewed activity. TotalEnergies is advancing work on Block 3B/4B. Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas and Navitas Petroleum have restructured the partnership on Block 1.

Operators reposition on Block 3B/4B and Block 1

TotalEnergies has identified the Nayla prospect as its primary drilling target on Block 3B/4B, where it holds a 33% operated interest alongside QatarEnergy, Meren Energy, Ricocure and Azinam. The company is also planning a campaign of up to seven wells in the Deep Western Orange Basin, about 211 kilometres offshore Saldanha Bay.

On Block 1, Eco (Atlantic) holds 19,900 square kilometres of acreage along the Namibian maritime boundary. Navitas Petroleum is acquiring a 37.5% working interest and operatorship through its Block 1 CBK framework. Eco (Atlantic) is running a data-room process to bring in additional farm-out partners.

The basin holds Aptian-Albian basin-floor fan reservoirs and Cretaceous source rocks. Discoveries on the Namibian side, including Venus and Mopane, have shown large deepwater resource volumes. South Africa holds around two-thirds of the basin's geographical area, and much of its offshore acreage remains unexplored.

NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, said South Africa has an extraordinary opportunity in the Orange Basin. He said the priority now is to bring investors, operators and government together to turn the basin's geological potential into production, jobs and long-term energy security.

Africa's stake in the Orange Basin

South Africa's offshore acreage has drawn less investor attention than Namibia's, despite holding the larger share of the Orange Basin.

A session that brings operators, financiers and government together to discuss the path from appraisal to production points to growing interest in the basin's southern half.

TotalEnergies holds interests in both South Africa's Block 3B/4B and Namibia's Venus project. This gives the company scope to apply the same infrastructure, technical expertise and deepwater methods on both sides of the maritime boundary as projects there move toward development.

The AEW 2026 session will look at the capital, partnerships and projects needed to develop what organisers call South Africa's next major offshore energy province.