United States energy giant Chevron Corporation (Chevron) is set to acquire a majority stake in a highly coveted ultra-deepwater block offshore Namibia, just north of TotalEnergies huge Venus discovery.
The transaction will mark Chevron’s first entry into southern Africa since its aborted foray into South Africa’s nascent onshore shale gas play some years ago.
The California-headquartered player, whose revenues surged to US$215.974 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2022, currently has its African portfolio centred on Angolan assets offshore Cabinda.
The upcoming deal, according to Upstream, covers Block 2813B, directly north of the multi-billion-barrel Venus discovery.
This block is operated by Australian junior Harmattan Energy following Tullow Oil’s exit from the acreage just weeks before the results from the Venus-1 wildcat and Shell’s Graff-1 probe were unveiled.
Harmattans holds a 37.06% stake in the block, with Trago Energy – controlled by Namibian businessman Knowledge Katti – on 52.94% and state-owned Namcor holding 10%.
However, information published early this year by Toronto-listed Sintana Energy shows that Harmattan has a 37% stake in the block, with Grisham Assets Corporation on 33%, Inter Oil on 20% and Namcor on 10%.
Sintana has a 49% interest in Inter Oil which, like Grisham, is believed to be controlled by Katti.
Sintana indicated that the block is covered by 2400-line kilometres of 2D seismic data and more than 7900 square kilometres of 3D data, while water depths range from 2300 to 3100 metres.
On the other hand, Harmattan is controlled by Havoc Partners, which is led by extractive industries veteran and Africa specialist Alan Stein.
Meanwhile, Sintana and its partners have secured an extension for an exploration licence for Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 83 from the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
PEL 83 sits directly above Block 2913A, where Shell plc made its Graff-1 light oil discovery, and directly to the west of Kudu Gas field currently being developed by BW Energy. The block is also contiguous to Block 2913B where TotalEnergies made its Venus-1 discovery.
Sintana also has a carry interest in the blocks 2813A and 2814B, which are operated through PEL 83 and indirect interests in the adjacent blocks operated through PEL 90 and PEL 87.
The increased interest in Namibia exploration activities comes after Namcor and its partners, Shell Namibia Upstream B.V and Qatar Energy, are said to have discovered a working petroleum system for light oil in the Orange Basin, 270 km from the town of Oranjemund, where drilling operations commenced in early December 2021 and were safely completed in early February 2022.
The company’s other partners, TotalEnergies, alongside QatarEnergy, and Impact Oil and Gas have also announced the Venus-1X discovery, located approximately 290 kilometres off the coast of Namibia, in the deep-water offshore exploration Block 2913B, which covers approximately 8,215 km².
According to the Namibia Petroleum Operators Association, exploration companies have sunk in over N$30 billion in the country since independence searching for commercially viable oil finds. TheBrief/Upstream
