Canadian company Sintana, together with its subsidiary Custos Investments, has announced an agreement with Woodside Energy for an option to acquire a 56% participating interest in the PEL 87 block offshore Namibia.
The agreement stipulates that Woodside will have the option to take the stake in the block if it pays the full cost of a 3D-seismic survey covering an area of at least 5,000 square kilometers within the license, at an estimated cost of N$635 million (US$35 million).
The Australian oil and gas company will have at least 180 days after the delivery of the seismic survey data to exercise the option.
Sintana anticipates that seismic surveying will begin in March 2023, with fast-track processed results expected in late June of this year.
If Woodside exercises its option, it has agreed to enter into a farmout agreement whereby it will carry the existing joint venture partners during the drilling of the first exploration well to be drilled on the License Area after the completion of the seismic survey.
“The transaction strengthens the positioning of both Custos and Sintana in Namibia. Specifically in an area that has emerged as the exploration hot-spot in recent years, particularly after the recent discoveries by Total Energies and Shell,” said Knowledge Katti, Chairman and CEO of Custos and Director of Sintana.
Petroleum Exploration License 87 covering an area of 10,970 sq km, hosts the large Saturn turbidite complex on-trend with the recent major oil discoveries made in the Orange Basin including Total’s Venus-1 discovery and Shell’s Graff-1 and La Rona-1. Recent Jonker-1 discoveries have also proven a working light oil system offshore Namibia, according to Sintana.
“We are pleased to confirm further progress on attracting capital and world-class partners to our portfolio of assets in the Orange Basin. The success in executing our strategy speaks to the quality of our portfolio and the continuing emergence of the Orange Basin as the world’s next great hydrocarbon province,” said Robert Bose, President and Director of Sintana.
Sintana is engaged in petroleum and natural gas exploration and development activities in Colombia’s Magdalena Basin and has five large, highly prospective, onshore and offshore petroleum exploration licenses in Namibia.
