Impact Oil & Gas says it has raised N$1.7 billion from its shareholders to evaluate an oilfield off the coast of Namibia.
The privately owned, Africa-focused, exploration company said the capital would be used to fund its participating interest share of the multi-well drilling programme in Namibia to further evaluate and appraise the Venus discovery; a world class, light-oil and associated gas field announced in February 2022.
“We are pleased to see the US$95 million open offer’s successful completion, having been fully taken up by our existing shareholders, who continue to support our growth and to whom we are most grateful. The funds raised will be applied towards our share of the multi-well drilling programme now underway in Namibia, together with our partners TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy and NAMCOR,” Chief Executive Officer of Impact Siraj Ahmed said.
Canadian-listed oil and gas company Africa Oil Corp, contributed N$577.2 million (US$31.4 million) to the offer, in turn increasing its stake in Impact Oil & Gas to 31.1% from 30.9% in Blocks 2913B and 2912, in which Impact Oil & Gas holds a 20% and 18.89% participating interest, respectively.
Impact is a UK-based, privately owned, independent exploration company with a focus on finding large-scale, deep water plays offshore Western and Southern Africa.
The company’s current portfolio covers a combined area of over 180,000km² (gross) (including an indirect interest in Block 11b/12b, South Africa).
The Venus-1X discovery well was drilled by TotalEnergies on behalf of the joint venture group comprising TotalEnergies (40%), QatarEnergy (30%), Impact (20%) and state-owned NAMCOR (10%).
The Venus discovery sits in the Orange Basin, approximately 290 kilometres off the coast of Namibia, deep offshore.
Impact Oil & Gas announcement comes after global energy research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie recently noted that Namibia’s oil discovery might be Sub-Sahara Africa’s biggest to date and estimates over US$3.5 billion annually in taxes and royalties for the Namibian government.
The firm also expects Namibia to be the third largest oil producer in the region within 10 years, producing 250,000 bpd in its first phase (to be the third biggest oil producer in Africa, Namibia would have to produce about 2.8 million bpd currently).
At the same time, Namcor estimates that the country could generate over US$5.6 billion in annual revenues from oil, according to a Bloomberg interview.
Since independence, exploration companies have invested more than N$30 billion in Namibia, according to the Namibia Petroleum Operators Association.
