Sintana Energy announces an update on its second exploration and appraisal campaign in Namibia’s Orange Basin, a rapidly emerging hotspot in global oil and gas exploration on blocks 2813A and 2814B.
The blocks are governed by Petroleum Exploration License 83 (“PEL 83″), which is operated by a subsidiary of Galp Energia of Portugal. Sintana maintains an indirect 49% interest in Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd., which in turn owns a 10% working interest owner in PEL 83. NAMCOR, the National Petroleum Company of Namibia, also maintains a 10% working interest.
The drill ship Santorini has arrived on location, and operations associated with the Mopane 1-A well have commenced. Specifically, Mopane 1-A was sent at 23:30 local time on October 23rd.
This appraisal well is the first of an up to four-well program potentially consisting of two exploration wells and two appraisal wells. This second campaign on PEL 83 is predicated on providing additional insights into the scope and quality of the Mopane complex.
We refer to press releases from Galp (available at galp.com) and Custos (available at newsdirect.com) throughout Q1 and Q2 of 2024, noting that an inaugural two-well exploration campaign that commenced in Q4 2023 resulted in multiple discoveries of significant columns of light oil in high-quality reservoir sands, providing for an initial estimate of original oil in place (“OOIP”) of 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent. A drill stem test was also conducted, resulting in an infrastructure-constrained flow of 14,000 boe/d.
Initial analysis suggests the reservoirs have good porosities, high pressures, and high permeabilities in large hydrocarbon columns with very low oil viscosity and no CO2 nor H2S. The flows achieved during the well test have reached the maximum allowed limits, positioning Mopane as, potentially, an important commercial discovery.
“We are excited about the ongoing advancements on PEL 83 and the continued exploration of the Mopane complex’s potential and quality. These efforts will enhance our understanding of this world-class opportunity and our broader portfolio in the Orange Basin, situated in this emerging hydrocarbon province,” stated Robert Bose, Chief Executive Officer of Sintana.
