Businessman Knowledge Katti’s Sintana Energy has paid a N$16.3 million deposit to secure negotiation rights over a stake in an oil block controlled by Paragon Oil & Gas, a company owned by Desmond Amunyela and Lazarus Jacobs.
The Canadian company says it could eventually become a shareholder in Paragon Oil & Gas and its petroleum exploration licence 37, the same licence that was linked to the firing of former mines and energy minister Natangwe Ithete.
The block, located in the heart of the Walvis Basin, is situated directly north of the Chevron-operated oil block which Sintana holds an interest in.
Sintana Energy chief executive Robert Bose announced the deal yesterday in a media statement.
“Sintana Energy is pleased to announce that it has entered into a letter of intent (LOI), providing for a period of exclusivity in relation to an investment providing for an indirect interest in petroleum exploration licence (PEL) 37 in the Walvis Basin,” he says.
According to the letter, Sintana will have until April 2026 to conduct due diligence and negotiate their capital contribution, which will result in the company becoming a shareholder in Paragon Oil & Gas and an indirect stakeholder in the oil block.
“The LOI provides Sintana with a period of exclusivity to negotiate appropriate terms which would result in Sintana becoming a shareholder of Paragon,” Bose says.
Bose says the letter of intent “provides, at low cost, exclusivity over a material indirect interest in PEL 37, which is a high-impact block at the heart of the Walvis Basin.”
He adds: “In particular, PEL 37 is immediately adjacent to PEL 82, where we already have an interest and where an initial exploration well is expected over the coming quarters.”
Sintana’s deposit is US$1 million (N$16.3 million at current exchange rate).
A CONTROVESIAL BLOCK
PEL 37 attracted controversy over the years and it appears to have attracted the attention of people in power.
Last October, Namibian Sun reported that former mines minister Ithete was fired for renewing Paragon’s licence for PEL 37, an allegation that Amunyela denied.
The newspaper alleged that Ithete was given the boot for violating a moratorium on oil deals and renewed an expired oil block licence in July 2025 without prior presidential approval.
“I told the minister, ‘Let me first understand – there should be no renewal, there should be no oil block giving, unless we consult one another,” president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said last year during a closed door meeting with mines and energy ministry staff.
THE MEMO
The same newspaper cited a 22 July 2025 memo addressed to Nandi-Ndaitwah, raising “a matter of serious regulatory concern” over the third renewal of PEL 37 granted to Paragon Oil & Gas.
The memo outlines how Paragon Oil & Gas, previously a local partner to Tullow Oil PLC, lost its rights to PEL 37 in 2021 after allegedly failing to respond to an official notice from the mines and energy ministry.
“At the end of its second renewal period on 27 March 2021, Tullow relinquished its interest and did not seek a third renewal,” the memo states.
“Paragon failed to respond within the stipulated timeframe, and the licence was lawfully cancelled.”
Paragon’s Amunyela declined to comment yesterday after The Namibian reached out.
Amunyela and Jacobs – through Paragon – have previously cashed in on an exploration licence, PEL 0037, by selling part of an oil block for N$40 million to Australian company Pancontinental Oil & Gas.
Katti has been Namibia’s biggest beneficiary for Namibia’s search for oil.
He is currently a non-executive director of Sintana Energy, and is the largest shareholder, currently holding 4.38%, according to data from S&P Global Intelligence.
Last year The Namibian reported that in 2023, Katti received a windfall of N$221 million, which included N$74 million in cash and N$147 million in shares, from selling his company, Inter Oil, to Canadian firm Sintana Energy.
The transaction was completed in 2022, granting Sintana Energy control of an additional acquisition in five petroleum exploration licences that hold oil blocks close to oil discoveries off the coast of Lüderitz.
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