Galp Energia, a Portuguese oil company, announced the completion of the initial exploration phase in the Mopane field off Namibia’s coast. Their estimation suggests the potential presence of at least 10 billion barrels of oil.
Galp said it conducted testing operations at the Mopane-1X well in January and the Mopane-2X well in March to early April. In both wells, which are 8km apart, it said “significant light oil columns were discovered in high-quality reservoir sands.”.
The Mopane field is located in the Orange basin, along Namibia’s coast, where Shell and France’s TotalEnergies have made several oil and gas discoveries.
Galp said flows achieved during the tests reached the maximum allowed limit of 14 thousand barrels per day, potentially positioning Mopane as an important commercial discovery.
“In the Mopane complex alone, and before drilling additional exploration and appraisal wells, hydrocarbon in-place estimates are 10-billion barrels of oil equivalent, or higher,” Galp said.
Galp holds an 80% stake in Petroleum Exploration Licence 83, which covers an area of almost 10,000 km2 in the Orange basin.
Namibia could become a new source of revenue for Galp, which has strong investments in projects off the coast of Brazil and is also present in a natural gas project in Mozambique’s Rovuma basin.
Galp has previously indicated it could launch a process to attract other investors to its projects in Namibia, as they could reach a large scale.
An African industry official revealed that the oil cartel OPEC+, which has seen the departure of Angola and other members in recent years, is considering Namibia for potential membership. This move comes as OPEC+ aims to establish what could become Africa’s fourth-largest oil output by the next decade.
