Sintana expands Walvis Basin exposure ahead of potential 2027 exploration wave in Namibia

August 21, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Canada-headquartered oil and natural gas exploration player Sintana Energy has taken steps to position itself for the next phase of Namibia’s offshore oil story by acquiring a stake in Maravilla Oil and Gas, a privately held Namibian company focused on high-impact opportunities in West Africa, which enables it to secure an indirect interest in petroleum exploration license 37 (PEL 37) ahead of potentially significant exploration activity across the Walvis Basin.

Map showing PEL 37 location; Source: Stamper

Sintana Energy has confirmed its entry into a definitive deal to obtain a 44% interest in Maravilla Oil and Gas, which is indirectly controlled by Knowledge Katti, the Canadian player’s Non-Executive Director. Maravilla, which has assets in Namibia and is exploring additional opportunities in emerging frontier geographies regionally, owns an 80% controlling shareholding in Paragon Oil and Gas, also a privately held Namibian company, which in turn owns a 100% operated interest in PEL 37 located in the Walvis Basin off the coast of Namibia.

Sintana’s investment in Maravilla provides the firm with an indirect 35% interest in PEL 37. The total consideration for the acquisition is $6.5 million, comprising $0.5 million deposit paid by Sintana in January 2026 at the time of signing of the letter of intent, $3 million in cash at signing and closing, $500,000 in pre-funded expenses associated with ongoing technical and commercial work on PEL 37, and $2.5 million in newly issued common shares at $0.30 per common share.

Closing is subject to, among other things, regulatory approvals and other standard transactional closing conditions. The acquisition provides the Canadian company with resources to further develop, mature, and refine opportunities, including an inventory of prospects in this license. According to Sintana, the partnership establishes a platform for both parties to work together to continue identifying and evaluating capital-efficient, high-impact opportunities in West Africa more broadly.

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PEL 37 covers 17,295 square kilometers in relatively shallow waters of 100-1,500 meters, with identified prospects at water depths between 300 and 600 meters, with multiple large fans directly overlying a proven, mature oil-prone Aptian source rock. The license is perceived to benefit from an extensive technical database already in place, including 2,813 square kilometers (2014) of 3D seismic data, around 1,000 line kilometers of 2D seismic data (2014), and historical drilling activity (Cormorant-1 (2018), Sasoil (1995).

Sintana highlights that PEL 37 is positioned to benefit from upcoming offset exploration activities, as it sits north and easterly inboard of PEL 82, operated by an affiliate of Chevron, and in which the Canadian firm’s Namibian affiliate (49%), Custos Energy, maintains a 10% interest. PEL 82 is approximately 70% covered in 3D seismic and is home to the Murumbe-1 and Wingat-1 wells drilled by HRT Participações em Petróleo, which intersected underlying source rock and from which light oil was brought to the surface.

Chevron has indicated an expectation of exploration activities including a potential inaugural exploration well in 2027. Given the geographic and technical setting of PEL 37 relative to PEL 82, the outcomes of future drilling on PEL 82 could have significant ‘read through’ implications for PEL 37.

In addition, Eco (Atlantic) announced in April 2026 the farm-down of interests in three of its licences in the Walvis Basin, adjacent to PEL 82 and PEL 37, to BP, and is expecting to conduct significant activities on these licences over the coming 12-24 months, including seismic acquisition, reprocessing and potential exploration well decisions.

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Robert Bose, CEO of Sintana, highlighted: “Expanding our platform though an investment in Maravilla is the continuing demonstration of our ability to secure cost-effective exposure to high-impact exploration licenses in emerging basins.

“The expansion of our Walvis Basin footprint positions us to participate in the next chapter of Namibia’s offshore success. We look forward to providing updates on progress in the coming quarters.”

Sintana believes a successful opening of the Walvis Basin would represent the next major phase of the broader Namibian offshore environment expansion, following discovery successes in the Orange Basin to the south.