"Rhino Resources' closely-watched exploration well in Namibia's prolific Orange basin is expected to be completed shortly, according to state oil company Namcor. The Sagittarius-1X well spudded on 18 December in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 85, targeting a major structure that was described by Maggy Shino, Namibia’s Petroleum Commissioner as “one of the most amazing prospects I have ever seen in Namibia, with at least five plays to be tested”. Murray Auchincloss, chief executive of BP — Eni’s partner in Azule Energy which has a major stake in PEL 85 — was also pretty bullish last year, telling analysts that the prospectivity of Rhino's acreage is very similar to Galp Energia's block directly to the north which hosts the huge Mopane discovery. “If you look at the seismic on the block… it’s a direct extension of the four or five structures that are in the Galp block at the same geological depth. There are very clear structures in the Galp block; there are very clear structures in the Rhino block. They lie in a pattern; they should have the same charge; and they should have the same origin,” he said.
Namcor — a PEL 85 partner — said in a statement issued last week that Sagittarius-1X “is expected to take 45 days to complete,” which would suggest that results from the probe could be announced any day now. This well is being drilled by the Noble Venturer drillship which, on completion, is likely to drill another exploration well targeting the Volans prospect.
Galp, meanwhile, continues to drill ahead on its Mopane-3X exploration well in PEL 83, southeast of Mopane. Robert Bose, chief executive of Sintana Energy — which has an indirect stake in the block via its investment in local player Custos Energy — said last week that results from Mopane-3X are expected “within the next month”. This well, he said, is located in “a very different part of Mopane complex” which itself comprises “nearly three dozen amplitude-versus-offset (AVO) anomalies,” with the sequencing of wells in Galp’s drilling campaign determined by the ranking of these prospects in terms of “size, quality and brightness”. Speaking at a Pareto conference in London, Bose said the plan after Mopane-3X is to drill “another exploration location, drill stem test… this and wrap up the programme.” As for Galp’s delayed PEL 83 farm-out process, Bose said he “could anticipate a potential farm-in by a supermajor, taking operatorship, towards the end of this year… early next year.”
Namcor - a PEL 83 partner - said Mopane-3X follows the recently completed Mopane-1A and -2A appraisal wells. It said Mopane-1A encountered light oil and gas-condensate in high quality reservoir bearing sands, indicating good porosities, high permeabilities, and high pressures, as well as low oil viscosity characteristics with minimum carbon dioxide and no hydrogen sulphide. Mopane-2A hit gas-condensate in the AVO-3 reservoir and hydrocarbon liquids in AVO-4, while also intercepting a thinner pay in AVO-1. “Together with the Mopane-1X and -2X well findings, these appraisal wells confirm the extension and quality of AVO-1,” said Namcor.
In TotalEnergies-operated PEL 56, Namcor confirmed that drilling operations are still ongoing at the Tamboti-1X exploration well, but did not comment on a potential discovery having been made. The state-owned player said the partners are “currently progressing with extensive post-well studies of the cores, logging data and fluid samples acquired from the Venus wells,” with this work continuing through 2025, and are also “progressing with fast-tracking” development studies of a “potential” Venus project. “Finally… technical evaluation on the block maturation and prospectivity are ongoing for further exploration and appraisal activities,” it added.
Commenting on Chevron's failed Kapapa-1X exploration well in PEL 90 — directly west of PEL 83 and directly north of PEL 56 — Namcor said the probe provided “valuable information on important aspects of the basin and our effective and efficient execution increases our confidence in our future programme” on the licence.”
On PEL 39, where Shell recently took a write down on its discoveries there and described them as "currently not commercial," Namcor said the partners are progressing "extensive post-well studies of the cores and fluid samples acquired from the Jonker, Enigma and Graff wells to improve the understanding of the reservoirs and expand that knowledge to other potential opportunities on the block." It said these studies will continue through 2025.
As for BW Energy's Kudu gas development in PL003, Namcor said the operator is “committed” to developing this gas-to-power scheme which will serve as a “national strategic project to solve the energy need for Namibia and its neighbours.” The state company said the partners are “on course” to submit the field development plan to the Ministry of Mines and Energy by the second quarter of 2025. In addition, the Kudu partnership is also preparing for an appraisal drilling campaign of up to two wells, which is expected to start in the third quarter of 2025. Commenting in securing a rig for this campaign, BW Energy chief executive Carl Arnet told delegates at the Pareto event last week that "we will be able to tap into a programme that is already existing - it's looking extremely promising." He said the first well, Kharras-1X, is going after three stacked targets so that's going to be super-exciting."
Elsewhere in Namibia, Namcor said it is conducting in-house geological, geophysical and engineering studies to enhance sub-surface knowledge on the hydrocarbon prospectivity offshore and onshore Namibia to provide such information to potential investors to allow them to make informed decisions. Furthermore, following the rash of recent light oil discoveries in the Orange basin, the corporation said it "has seen increasing interest" from potential upstream investors. “Namcor continues to host data rooms for clients to assess and evaluate non-proprietary exploration datasets for potential farm-ins opportunities with existing acreage holders and licence application through the Ministry of Mines & Energy,” the company said."
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