Recent discoveries along Namibia’s coast have transformed the country into a major hotspot for oil exploration.
It has not yet produced any oil or gas, but oil majors such as TotalEnergies and Shell have made discoveries estimated at 2.6 billion barrels, with production in the southern African country expected from about 2030.
There have been discoveries in the Orange Basin, and there are other prospective areas, including the Luderitz, Kavango, and Walvis basins.
Chevron, the U.S. oil major, is expected to begin exploration later this year.
It signed a development deal in April that will see it take an 80% operating working interest in an offshore block in the Walvis Basin. Chevron Namibia Exploration Ltd. is also the operator of PEL 90, an offshore deepwater block in the Orange Basin.
Azule Energy, a joint venture between Italy’s Eni and BP for their Angolan assets, and exploration firm Rhino Resources Namibia have agreed to a farm-in agreement for a 42.5% interest in an offshore Orange Basin license, the companies said in May.
In early 2024, the Portuguese energy group Galp carried out tests at its Mopane-1X and Mopane-2X wells and estimated in April that the Mopane field could hold at least 10 billion barrels of oil following a first phase of exploration. The find at Mopane, which is located at PEL 83, appears to be one of the largest made in the Orange Basin following successful exploration campaigns by TotalEnergies and Shell in recent years.
Galp has launched the sale of half of its Mopane stake. The company has an 80% stake in the PEL 83 block, while the remaining 20% is split between Namibian state firm Namcor and Sintana Energy’s. Namibian unit Custos Energy.
Shell and its partners made what they described as an “encouraging” discovery in an exploration well off the coast of Namibia in February 2022. Shell is exploring offshore oil and gas in PEL 39 and opening a new tab in the Orange Basin with JV partners QatarEnergy and Namcor.
PEL 39 covers an area of 12,000 square kilometers and includes seven wells where drilling has taken place. Its Graff well could hold 2.38 billion barrels of oil, and its Jonker-1X well another 2.5 billion.
In January, Totalenergies agreed to acquire an additional 10.5% interest in Block 2913B and a 9.39% interest in Block 2912. The company is set to spend, according to a new tab, about 30% of its $1 billion exploration and appraisal budget in Namibia in 2024.
It began its activity in Namibia in 1964 and currently operates two deep offshore exploration blocks. Total owns a 40% working interest, while QatarEnergy, Impact Oil and Gas, and Namcor have stakes of 30%, 20%, and 10%, respectively.
TotalEnergies aims to approve its first oil development in Namibia by the end of 2025, focusing on the Venus 1-X well in Block 2913B within the Orange Basin. Namibia plans to commence oil production from Venus, which is estimated to hold around 5.1 billion barrels of oil, between 2029 and 2030.
