Total and Canadian partner CNRI have kicked off deepwater drilling off the coast of South Africa aimed at testing structures with pre-drill estimates put at up to 1 Bbbl of oil.

The Total-operated well was spudded in one of two blocks, 11B and 12B, located in the Outeniqua Basin off the southern coast of South Africa. They cover an area totalling 19,000?sq?km (7,334 sq miles) in water depths ranging from 200-1,800?m (656 -5,900 ft).

Steve Laut, CNRI’s chief executive said in a newspaper interview that the high-impact drilling program is high risk/high reward, with a 30% chance of success. The well is testing one of five identified subsea structures, each of which has potential resources of up to 1 Bbbl of oil.