TotalEnergies acquires 40% stake in Galp’s Mopane operation in Namibia

France’s TotalEnergies has acquired a 40% stake in Portugal’s energy giant Galp’s operations at the Mopane oil fields off the coast of Namibia.

The company has a formed a partnership whereby Total becomes the operator, swapping assets for stakes in Venus and other fields, sharing costs and aiming to develop a major oil hub.

TotalEnergies purchased 40% of Galp’s PEL 83 licence (Mopane) and in return, Galp received 10% of Total’s PEL 56 (Venus) and 9.4% of PEL 91 fields.
It means that TotalEnergy will fund 50% of Galp’s exploration and appraisal costs for Mopane to be rapid from future cash flows while three wells are planned for Mopane starting in 2026 to assess resources.

However news of the TotalEnergies acquisition was not well received by investors who were disappointed by the lack of upfront cash and the swap nature of the deal resulting in a significant drop in Galp shares, despite Galp seeing value in the shared costs.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday the investment houses changed their outlooks for Galp shares that lost over €2Bn in capitalisation on the stock market while the Bank of America has valued the deal with the French oil company at US$1.9Bn.