Venus appraisal set for first-quarter start

The Orange basin’s promising upstream looks likely to gather momentum in 2023, once again led by the flagship Venus and Graff discoveries

Developers will start appraisal drilling work at the Venus discovery in Namibia by the end of this quarter, minority stakeholder Toronto-listed Africa Oil confirms.  “We are heading into a busy operational year with the potentially transformational appraisal drilling on the Venus discovery,” says the firm’s CEO Keith Hill. Africa Oil owns a stake in Impact Oil and Gas, which in turn holds 20pc of the Venus discovery. TotalEnergies operates Venus with a 40pc share, while other partners in the project comprise state-owned QatarEnergy (30pc) and Namibian NOC Namcor (10pc). Namibian waters became a global hotspot for offshore exploration last year following back-to-back exploration successes at