Oil exploration boom in Namibia

Namibia has become an oil exploration hotspot after several discoveries in recent years along its coast.

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 expected from about 2030.

There have been discoveries in the Orange Basin and there are other prospective areas, including Lüderitz and the Kavango and Walvis basins.

Below are details on the latest developments (in alphabetical order):

Chevron

The United States 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 petroleum exploration licence (PEL) 90, an offshore deepwater block in the Orange Basin.

Eni, BP

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 deal for a 42.5% interest in an offshore Orange Basin licence, the companies said in May.

Galp

In early 2024, the Portuguese energy group 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

The oil major and its partners made what it described as an "encouraging" discovery in an exploration well off the coast of Namibia in February 2022.

Shell is exploring the offshore oil and gas in PEL 39 in the Orange Basin with JV partners QatarEnergy and Namcor. PEL 39 covers an area of 12 000 square kilometres 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.

TotalEnergies

The French oil and gas major in January 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 about 30% of its US$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.

Block 2913B, located in the Orange Basin, contains the Venus 1-X well, where by the end of 2025, TotalEnergies aims to approve its first oil development in Namibia.

Namibia is planning for first oil production from Venus, estimated to hold about 5.1 billion barrels of oil, between 2029 and 2030.