Total builds on Brulpadda success, heralds new era for South Africa - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet: 

One of the most important discoveries of the year took place 175km off the southern coast of South Africa where Total has made a gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The exploration well encountered 57 metres of net gas condensate play in Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. Following the success of the main objective, the well was deepened to a final depth of 3,633 metres and has also been successful in the Brulpadda-deep prospect.

Speaking at Africa Oil Week last week (Africa-OilWeek.com), Dr Enzo Insalaco, Vice President Exploration Africa at Total explained that South Africa has become an interesting area for exploration. “When you look at the fundamentals, you can see a scenario where there are a number of significant, relatively underexplored basins and many of the play fundamentals are present in these places,” he said. “We see that there's a lot of scope for exploration and significant potential.”

That interest has been illustrated by the recent activity by the industry, which has seen a significant amount of seismic capture and blocks being taken in Namibia and South Africa. “Much of that activity is early-stage, so 2D or 3D,” Insalaco added. “What we will see in the next few years is an uptick in reservoir drilling and exploration. We have a strong position in the oil basin, so we have a couple of blocks in the Orange Basin and in South Africa the 11B/12B block where this discovery was made.”

Opening a new petroleum basin:

For Total, Brulpadda was certainly a high impact well for opening up what they believe is a significant petroleum basin. “It was a very bold technical well,” Insalaco continued. “Many people may not realise that the well was actually drilled on 2D. It is a deep offshore well, so drilling on 2D was a very bold move. But given our understanding of the basin and the innovations we did on the operations, this well could be drilled safely and successfully on 2D.”

“As we know, it was an operational success just as much as a technical success; we drilled the well within budget, within time and in terms of NPT we have about 3% of NPT and 3% waiting on weather. If you consider the conditions, that is fantastic operational performance. We drilled the well to the main reservoir log and then we went down to a deeper reservoir.”

“We did extensive logging records, took samples of fluid, reservoir and source rock. It was a fantastic result in terms of operational performance and data acquisition. It is a gas and condensate and oil discovery, both traces were found. The reservoirs were well-developed with good fluid and reservoir properties. You could not really wish for more information from an exploration well. That data acquisition has really put us in a great position going forward to be able to accelerate the next level and the evaluation.”

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Spousal communication key to family planning success

Editorial@NaijaAgroNet:

As communication is key to a successful marriage, so it is with family planning uptake among couples.

Conversely, lack of communication has often been linked to misunderstanding in relationships. Family planning, otherwise known as contraception, refers to the diverse methods and techniques whereby couples can determine the number of children they want to have and when.

Evidence has shown that many factors hinder rapid uptake of family planning by couples, due to lack of communication in the home.

Some of them include: myths and misconceptions on initiating use of traditional and modern methods of contraceptives.

Many couples are in relationships where it is commonly believed that the man being the head of the family dictates the tune with regards to taking key decisions in the home. For instance, if the man does not approve of any family planning method, the wife would have an uphill task convincing him on thinking otherwise.

Based on such differences, some women in marriage/relationships have gone behind their spouses and adopted family planning method without their knowledge, have often created mistrust which regularly leads to conflicts in homes. In one of such experiences which occurred in Lagos State recently, a man, names withheld, suddenly found out that his wife had adopted an implant, which is a hormone-based and highly effective contraceptive device.

The typical implant is a small flexible tube measuring about 40mm in length and is inserted under the skin (typically in the upper arm) by a health care professional. It prevents pregnancy by releasing hormones that prevent ovaries from releasing eggs and thickens cervical mucous. 

After putting pressure on the woman, she confessed to him, explaining that she wanted to space their children to enable her regain her health and then continue with her job. Besides considering the dangers of too frequent pregnancies, the woman also considered the burden of combining another pregnancy with her job, which she envisaged would be quite unbearable for her and might even make her lose her job that is so difficult to get these days.

Unfortunately, in all the woman’s explanations, her husband refused to see reasons with her just because he was not involved from the beginning when the decision was taken by his wife to have a family planning and during the process when the woman was counselled on the method to use.

Though the man in anger demanded that the healthcare provider that administered the implant on her should remove it, to the consternation of his wife, this misunderstanding could have been avoided if the couple had a collective decision on the issue which could only be achieved through effective communication.

This experience plays out in most Nigerian homes, often resulting in conflicts, separation and in extreme cases, divorce. However, it can be effectively addressed through constant engagement and communication among couples. This is because, embracing family planning methods and using them correctly after proper counselling  is more important than the conflict. Rather, it should be a measure to unite couples.

Experts say family planning gives individuals and couples the opportunity to have the number of their desired children, the spacing and timing of their births and this can be achieved through the use of contraceptive methods.

A Family Planning expert, Dr. Ejike Orji, believes that dialogue is very important when a spouse in a relationship plans to adopt family planning. According to him, any woman going ahead to do things that her husband do not like would not get his support and this may result into unnecessary conflict, whereas, the aim of using family planning was bonding in families.

It is obvious that a wide range of family planning options are available nowadays with their potential benefits. It, therefore, behooves on the woman who is initiating the subject of family planning to her husband to find a way to open conversation on the issue.

For instance, such a woman should find out what her husband thinks and says about it; and how he might relate with her on this issue. In conclusion, it is clear that a woman discussing family planning with her husband, would bring the partner to the same level on which she is, and this measure could pave way for the couple to be on the same page.

While on the same page, the woman should remember to consult a trained healthcare provider who can help her make the best choice tailored towards meeting her own unique needs.

*Courtesy: Media for Health Advocacy

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ICTs essential to empowerment, success of poor rural women

NaijaAgroNet:

The role of information communications technologies in supporting rural women's economic empowerment, voice and status, was the focus of discussions at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on 8 March, International Women’s Day, reports NaijaAgroNet.

IFAD, together with United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), will highlight the role that innovations in information and communications technologies (ICTs) can play in expanding rural women's opportunities in value chains and enterprise development, while increasing their access to education and information.

Many women, particularly young rural women, lack access to productive resources such as land, credit and technology. Women lag behind in terms of their access to ICTs, with only 41 per cent of women in low-and middle income countries owning mobile phones compared to 46 per cent for males. Nearly two-thirds of women living in the South Asia and East Asia and Pacific sub-regions do not own a mobile phone. Rural women regularly lack access to health care, education, decent work and social protection. As a consequence, they are more likely to be poor and they are vulnerable to economic and climatic shocks.

ICTs can go a long way to boosting economic opportunities for rural women. Mobile and smartphones, for example, provide access to real-time information on prices in different markets and allow more informed choices about where and when to buy and sell. Studies indicate that when women earn money, they are more likely than men to spend it on food for their families and the education of their children.

Uj. N. Dominic/ED, OP

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