"Galp Energia has reignited talks with players battling to bag a big stake in its mighty Mopane oil and gas discovery offshore Namibia, amid hopes a deal could be finalised by the end of 2025, according to co-chief executive Maria Joao Carioca. Carioca also stood by Galp's original in-place resource estimate of 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent for the multi-reservoir Mopane complex, and stressed that the most recent hydrocarbon discovery, Mopane-3X, is far “oilier” than the original Mopane-1X find to the northwest. She made her comments during a webcast covering Galp's first-quarter results, which saw the company's profits fall over 40% due to lower upstream production and weaker oil prices, although the result exceeded analysts' expectations. Commenting on the rejuvenated Mopane farm-out talks during a call dominated by questions about Namibia, Carioca said: “What we're doing, to a very large extent, is re-engaging with the interested parties that we've had conversations with before.” The parties have previously been reported to include Petrobras, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and Woodside Energy.
A data-sharing process is expected to last until mid-summer, but beyond that there is no specific timeline by which a “value accretive” deal must be concluded. “We don't really have a firm timeline,” said Carioca, although she stressed a few times during the webcast the idea of “no procrastination” while revealing that the “base expectation” is to conclude an agreement in the fourth quarter of 2025. Asked why the farm-out process stalled in 2024, Carioca said: “We came to a mutual understanding that there was still information to be obtained about Mopane and our block, and that it would be productive for all parties interested that this information would be obtained.” This decision, she said, was “well-received by proposed partners and it was mutually acknowledged that those activities could give all parties a clearer view” of the asset, arguing that with all this fresh data at hand, “this is the right moment for us to re-engage". Despite recent volatility in commodity prices, she noted that of the potential partners Galp has been in talks with, “nobody has dropped off the conversation; there was no disengaging".
The key to doing a deal is to ensure “an alignment of interest”, Carioca explained, with Galp keen to fast-track two initial development hubs on an asset located in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 83, one in the northwest and another in the southeast. “Mopane has the potential to be worthy of a first-track development, and we would like to find a partner that looks at Mopane in that same way.” Upstream has reported previously that the Lisbon-listed company has been in touch with contractors able to procure a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. Or, in the words of Carioca, Galp has been keeping “a little bit of an eye out on the market". Another goal for the company is to complete analysis of well data — the company has drilled five probes during the last year or so — and, over the coming 12 months, to process and interpret recently acquired 3D seismic data. “Our focus right now is getting through all of this data, making sure that we bring it into a proposed development concept,” said the co-chief executive.
Discussing the 10 billion boe resource number for Mopane, Carioca said it “still stands”, but admitted there remains a lot to learn about the complex, adding that Mopane “is a rather large system, what we're finding is that AVOs (amplitude versus offset [analyses]) have different characteristics". She also confirmed that, based on information from wells drilled up to November 2024, contingent resources of 900 million boe had been discovered in Mopane’s northwest zone. This latter resource estimate was calculated by Degolyer & MacNaughton, the methodology of which, said Carioca, “is different from our models and our internal analytics, but we see them as consistent". Asked to add some colour to Galp’s most recent discovery (Mopane-3X), Carioca described it as “exciting”, with “high permeabilities, good porosities and higher-than-expected pressures — which we see as a good sign — very low carbon dioxide and no hydrogen sulphide". Asked specifically about reservoir permeabilities, she said: “We are seeing ranges which are significantly higher than what we've seen our peers announce and discuss.”
This appears to be a reference to comments made in February by TotalEnergies chief executive, Patrick Pouyanne, when he said the permeability of the Venus reservoir is between 2 and 4 millidarcies, compared to the permeability of Shell’s nearby Jonker discovery in PEL 39 (which was declared non-commercial) which is about 0.7 millidarcies. Carioca pointed out that Mopane’s southeast region, which hosts Mopane-3X, is “certainly oilier than the northwest region”, which housed Mopane-1X. Carioca also noted that Rhino Resources’ recent Capricornus-1X discovery in a PEL 85, immediately south of PEL 83, is “consistent with a notion that the basin is oilier closer to shore". However, some basin watchers would demur, highlighting the presence, immediately east of Mopane, of BW Energy’s Kudu gas field."
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