Sources close to the sale process report that over 12 oil companies are interested in purchasing a 40% stake in Galp Energia’s significant offshore oil discovery in Namibia.
Galp’s Mopane discovery, which is estimated to hold at least 10 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent, could be valued at over US$10 billion, according to some estimates.
In April, Galp launched the sale process for half of its 80% stake in petroleum exploration license 83 (PEL 83) as well as the right to become its operator. Over a dozen companies, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies, Brazil’s Petrobras, Australia’s Woodside Energy, and United States producer Apache Energy, have signed agreements to access geological data in the field, sources said.
A number of companies also placed indicative, non-binding offers for the stake late last month, they said.
The identities of the bidders and their offers were unclear. Most firms were expected to offer an upfront cash payment to Galp and to cover the Lisbon-listed firm’s share in the field’s development, the sources said.
A decision on the development of the field is contingent on further exploration and appraisal work, they added.
Galp, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies and Apache declined to comment. Exxon, Woodside did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Petrobras declined to comment on the bidding process, but said it was “evaluating opportunities to expand oil reserves, including offshore of Africa”.
Namibia’s national oil and gas company Namcor, which runs the petroleum data centre on behalf of the government, also declined to comment.
Namibia, which has no oil and gas production, has attracted huge interest from international energy companies in recent years following a string of discoveries by TotalEnergies, Shell and Galp. No company has decided to go ahead yet with a field development, although TotalEnergies said it expects to make a decision by the end of the year.
The sector’s strong interest in developing a new basin underscores expectations that oil and gas demand will remain robust for years, despite global efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependency.
