Big Energy firms eyes another African country after new discovery

• After many discoveries close to its coast in recent years, Namibia has become a centre for oil prospecting.
• Companies in the oil sector, such as TotalEnergies and Shell, have discovered resources thought to be worth 2.6 billion barrels
• It is projected that manufacturing in the southern African nation will commence approximately in 2030

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Namibia has emerged as a hub for oil exploration following several recent finds near its coast.

TotalEnergies and Shell have found deposits estimated to be worth 2.6 billion barrels in Namibia. Photo Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin, Bloomberg Creative
Source: Getty Images

Though it hasn't yet produced any oil or gas, big players in the oil industry like TotalEnergies and Shell have found deposits estimated to be worth 2.6 billion barrels; production in the country in southern Africa is anticipated to begin around 2030.

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

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Reuters has highlighted the latest development by big energy firms in the region:

CHEVRON

Later this year, the large American oil company, Chevron is anticipated to start exploring. It agreed to take an 80% operating working interest in an offshore block in the Walvis Basin when it signed a development arrangement in April.

PEL (Petroleum Exploration Licence) 90, an offshore deepwater block in the Orange Basin, is likewise operated by Chevron Namibia Exploration Ltd.

ENI, BP

The exploration company Rhino Resources Namibia and Italy's Eni have reached a farm-in deal for a 42.5% stake in an offshore Orange Basin license through Azule Energy, a joint venture between the two firms for their Angolan assets. The announcement was made in May.

GALP

After testing its Mopane-1X and Mopane-2X wells in early 2024, the Portuguese energy group projected in April that the Mopane field may contain at least 10 billion barrels of oil after a first round of exploration.

The discovery at Mopane, situated at PEL 83, seems to be among the biggest in the Orange Basin as a result of recent, fruitful exploration efforts by TotalEnergies and Shell.

Galp has started to sell off half of its ownership in Mopane. The company owns 80% of the PEL 83 block, with the remaining 20% being divided between Custos Energy, a Namibian division of Sintana Energy, and Namcor, a state-owned enterprise in Namibia.

SHELL

In February 2022, Shell and its partners reported making a "encouraging" discovery in an exploration well off the coast of Namibia.

In collaboration with QatarEnergy and Namcor, Shell is investigating the offshore oil and gas resources in the Orange Basin.

PEL 39 is a 12,000 square kilometer area with seven wells that have undergone drilling. An additional 2.5 billion barrels of oil could be stored in its Jonker-1X well and 2.38 billion in its Graff well.

Nigeria may lose highest oil-producing status

Legit.ng reported that data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) shows Nigeria’s crude oil production declined to 1.25 million barrels daily in May 2024.

The information is contained in OPEC’s monthly oil market report released on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, and is based on direct communication with Nigerian authorities.

OPEC’s data comes from communication with member countries and secondary sources such as energy intelligence platforms.

Source: Legit.ng