Rig en route to begin drilling campaign off Namibia

Portuguese oil and gas company Galp is getting ready to begin drilling a well in license PEL 83 offshore Namibia, located close to Shell’s Graff and TotalEnergies’ Venus discoveries.

Galp’s partner, Canada-based Sintana Energy, said on October 19 that the semi-submersible rig Hercules is currently in transit along the coast of West Africa and is expected to reach Walvis Bay on or about November 4. It will then move on to the first location with an expected spud date in mid-November.

The initial drilling campaign is targeting the massive Mopane complex located at the southern end of PEL 83, Sintana stated.

“With JV-estimated mean oil-in-place of up to 10 billion barrels, Mopane represents one of the most significant and attractive known opportunities in the basin today,” said Knowledge Katti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Custos Energy and Director of Sintana. “The significant prospectivity of PEL 83 together with its relatively shallower water depth, position it to be one of the most significant and profitable developments in the Orange Basin.”

Galp entered into a contract with SFL Corporation for the Hercules rig in May. The 115-day contract, prior to any extension option exercise, is for two wells plus optional well testing.

PEL 83 is located in the heart of Namibia’s Orange Basin. The license is located immediately north of Shell’s PEL 39 where the basin opening discoveries at Graff-1, La Rona-1 and Jonker-1 were drilled, and close to TotalEnergies’ multibillion-barrel Venus-1 oil discovery on PEL 56.

Galp, as the operator of PEL 83, secured an extension for the license last year. The company holds an 80% interest in this asset while its partners, National Petroleum Company of Namibia (Namcor) and Custos Investments, each hold a 10% stake. Sintana has a 49% indirect interest in Custos.