‘A new dawn’ for Namibia as Shell finds oil in deepwater well

Oil and gas giant Shell has made an oil discovery in its exploration well located in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia. The results from the well are encouraging, providing hope for a “new dawn in the country’s future prosperity.”

The Graff-1 well is located in Block 2913A in the Orange Basin where Shell is the operator and its partners are QatarEnergy and the national oil company of Namibia, NAMCOR. QatarEnergy became Shell’s partner in two exploration blocks offshore Namibia, Block 2913A and Block 2914B, in April 2021.

The well was spud in December 2021, using the Valaris-owned DS-10 drillship.

NAMCOR announced on Friday that the Graff-1 deepwater exploration well has made a discovery of light oil in both primary and secondary targets.

The Graff-1 well has proved a working petroleum system for light oil in the Orange Basin, offshore Namibia, 270 km from the town of Oranjemund. Drilling operations were completed in early February 2022.

NAMCOR said that, in the coming months, the focus will be on performing extensive laboratory analyses to gain a better understanding of the reservoir quality and potential flow rates achievable.

“Whilst we can learn a great deal from the results of Graff-1, we anticipate that further exploration activity, including a second exploration well, will be required to determine the size and recoverable potential of the identified hydrocarbons,” NAMCOR stated.

“We hope that this discovery puts to rest doubts about the hydrocarbon potential of Namibia and opens a new dawn in the country’s future prosperity,” said Managing Director, Immanuel Mulunga of NAMCOR.

Offshore Energy has also reached out to Shell, seeking further details about the discovery.

A spokesperson for Shell said: “Results from our exploration well are encouraging, establishing the presence of a working petroleum system with light oil. We’ll continue evaluating the data and conduct further exploration activity to determine the extent of the system and how much of the hydrocarbons can be recovered. We look forward to continued close collaboration with our partners NAMCOR, Qatar Energy and the Government of Namibia.”