General Thoughts, page-2667

Upstream 17 Feb 23

GalpEnergia has spudded a critical appraisal well on its big Mopane oil discoveryoffshore Namibia.

TheMopane-1X discovery well in Block 2813A was drilled successfully by thesemi-submersible rig Hercules, with the probe hitting two distinct Cretaceouspay zones.

Lastweek, Galp chief executive Filipe Silva said the probe found “very encouragingpressures, very encouraging porosity and very encouraging permeability”.

“Wehave something that looks sizable,” he said, stressing that the scale of Mopaneshould be known by the end of next month after the Mopane-2X delineation wellhas been completed and a drill stem test on Mopane-1X has also been wrapped up.

CustosEnergy, one of Galp's partners in the block, has talked about a pre-drilloil-in-place estimate of 10 billion barrels, but the Portuguese operator hasnot published a resource estimate itself.

TheHercules semi-submersible began drilling the Mopane-2X well on 14 February,according to marine intelligence provider VesselsValue, about 7.5 kilometressouthwest of the discovery well.

PeterElliott, director of NVentures, a commercial intelligence provider in theexploration business, said Galp’s licence appears to hold a Late Cretaceous(Cenomanian–Turonian) play found by Shell in its Graff discovery to the south,and the Lower Cretaceous (Albo-Aptian) play hit by TotalEnergies at Venus.

“A major detachment at Cenomanian level appears to underliehigh-energy clastics, forming combination stratigraphic/structural traps in theCenomanian-Turonian,”he wrote in a short article for GeoExpro.

“Furtherlarge build-ups at the base Cretaceous show strong similarities to the basinfloor fan play in the Albian, with Aptian source,” added Elliott.

Galp’s announcement on Mopane-1X is suggests that both plays maybe active, headded.

Elliottalso pointed out that what could be even more significant is Galp’s referenceto the presence of light oil and a high-quality reservoir in the deeper leg ofthe well.

“Ifreservoir quality is good here — there are documented references topermeability and chlorite issues at Venus and Jonker — this new discovery at Mopane could be pointing toa more prolific sweet spot in the basin, which draws the explorer’s eyes to theentire northern third of the Orange basin depocentre,” he added.

Elliottsaid Mopane-1X was drilled in 1903 metres of water to a target depth ofapproximately 5000 metres.