Chevron takes operatorhelm at two blocks in Namibian waters

Chevron Namibia Exploration Limited, an affiliate of the energy corporation Chevron in the United States (US), has strengthened its presence in Namibia’s offshore oil and gas space by obtaining a new licence.

This enables it to assume the mantle of operator at two blocks in the country. Chevron revealed an agreement to enter into petroleum exploration licence 82 (PEL 82) in April 2024.

The deal enables the firm to acquire an 80% working interest and operatorship of the licence while its partners, the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) and Custos Energy, will each maintain a 10% carried interest in PEL 82, with Canada’s Sintana Energy holding an indirect 49% interest in Custos.

The US oil corporation now has a majority share interest in PEL 82, which governs blocks 2112B and 2212A in the Walvis Basin off the coast of Namibia, where the previous drilling activity included the Murombe-1 and Wingat-1 wells.

This licence is described by Custos as one of the basin’s most attractive opportunities, with approximately 70% of the total block area covered by extensive existing seismic exploration, entailing over 3 500 kilometres of 2D and 9 500 square kilometres of 3D data.

Custos chairman and chief executive Knowledge Katti, comments: “Completion of Chevron’s entry into PEL 82 is another indicator of the quality and opportunity associated with our offshore portfolio.

We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Chevron, positioning us to unveil together another emerging basin in Namibia.”

In addition to PEL 82, Chevron currently operates PEL 90 in the Orange Basin, where the firm completed its first deepwater offshore well in January with its joint venture partners, Trago Energy, a subsidiary of Custos, and Namcor.

While the drilling programme did not yield any commercial hydrocarbon quantities, it still provided valuable information on key aspects of the basin, despite the lack of the desired commercial outcome.
– Offshore Energy

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