Galp mulls oil extraction in Namibia

Portugal’s oil and gas giant Galp has announced that petroleum exploration in Namibia could be profitable for the company.

The conclusion comes at the end of the first phase of oil exploration in the country’s Mopane oil field with an estimated reserve of 10 billion barrels.

Galp has an 80% share in the operations company together with its partners NAMCOR and Custos (PEL 83), the latter two each having 10%.

The offshore oil field, called PEL 83, covers an area of 10,000Km2 in the Orange Basin located in the southern part of Namibian waters, close to the border with South Africa.

The exploration was done using a Hercules semi-submersible rig from mid-November last year.

The company was spurred on after nearby oil discoveries in the Graf-1 and Venus-1 wells, drilled by Shell and TotalEnergies respectively.

In September 2021, the partners of PEL 83 agreed to enter into the second two-year exploration period with the possibility of being extended for an additional year, until September 2, 2024.