"Galp Energia has chosen the drilling rig for what will be a very keenly-watched multiwell exploration and appraisal (E&A) campaign offshore Namibia, focused in its huge Mopane oil and gas discovery.
The Portuguese player is currently the centre of attention in Namibia because of a farm-out process it continues to run in an attempt to attract a new partner to help further explore its prolific acreage and also appraise and develop Mopane, which Galp has said holds in-place resources of 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Lisbon-based company has said previously that it is happy to sole-risk drilling the first probes in a planned four-well E&A campaign although, traditionally, farm-in processes tend to conclude before new wells are drilled.
Petrobras has declared an interest in Mopane and is widely tipped to be the frontrunner to take a slice of Mopane, but market sources wonder whether Chevron, Shell or TotalEnergies could still be involved in talks. Upstream was told two weeks ago that Galp was in talks to secure Saipem's Santorini drillship for the Mopane campaign.Rig watcher Esgian — citing market sources — reported early this week that the drillship is currently being mobilised from the Ivory Coast where it has been working for Eni. “The next campaign… includes two exploration wells and two appraisal wells,” said Esgian. According to marine intelligence provider VesselsValue, the drillship is currently 1350 kilometres west of Luanda, on route to Walvis Bay, having departed the Ivory Coast on 5 October."
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