LNG

The state-owned oil and natural gas company in Namibia in southwest Africa has signed an agreement with Chevron Corp. granting the US major an 80 percent operating and working interest in a key offshore block.

The terms of the transaction are that Namibia National Petroleum Corp. (Namcor) and Custos Energy, a Namibian independent oil and gas exploration company focused on attracting investment and expertise to the Namibian offshore industry, will each retain a 10 percent carried interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence 82 located in the Walvis Basin to Chevron Namibia Exploration Limited's majority stake.

Namibia has four oil and gas exploration and production basins north to south, comprising the Namib Basin in the north, then the Walvis Basin in Central Nambia, followed by the Luderitz Basin just to the south of that and then the more prolific so far Orange Basin in the far south near South African waters.

Orange discovery

Galp Energia of Portugal said on April 22, 2024, that its Mopane discovery in the southern Orange Basin could contain 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent or more.

The Namcor-Custos-Chevron deal concerns the Walvis Basin in the middle of the oil and gas resource area and offshore Walvis Bay in Central Namibia.

Namcor said in a statement that this strategic collaboration underscored its dedication to maximizing the exploration potential and development of Namibia's offshore resources, particularly in under-explored basins holding significant promise.

The transaction is pending regulatory approvals from the Namibia Ministry of Mines and Energy.

“Together, we will leverage significant expertise and resources to propel our national interests and economic growth, turning possibilities into prosperity for Namibia,” said Namcor’s Interim Managing Director Ebson Uanguta in a statement.

Namcor added that it anticipated a substantial surge in oil and associated natural gas production estimates following the analysis of existing data.

Ample seismic

Analysts noted that around 70 percent of the total block area is covered by extensive existing seismic data comprising over 3,500 kilometres of 2D and 9,500 kilometres of 3D data.

Previous drilling activity on PEL 82 discovered the Murombe-1 and Wingat-1 wells.

Results confirmed regional extensions and the presence of the Barremian-Aptianoil-prone source rock, known as Kudu Shale.

“We are pleased to announce the continuing expansion of our in-country partnership with Chevron through their entry into PEL 82,” said Knowledge Katti, Chairman and Chief Executive of Custos.

“This is one of the most advanced and interesting opportunities offshore Namibia outside of the Orange Basin.” Katti explained.

“We are pleased to see our efforts over the last decade on PEL 82 result in this important step forward adding further to Namibia’s world-class offshore opportunity,” he stated.

Galp Energia, the Portuguese oil and gas company whose most valuable upstream assets has been its stake in one of Africa’s prolific natural gas basins and LNG projects offshore Mozambique, says a new discovery off the southwest African nation of Namibia could contain 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent or more.

Jan 10 (LNGJ) - TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to acquire bigger stakes in offshore oil and gas fields in the southwest African nation of Namibia along with partner and leading LNG produce QatarEnergy. The French major’s deal is with Impact Oil and Gas Namibia for an additional 10.5 percent participating interest in block 2913B and an additional 9.39 percent participating interest in block 2912, both operated by TotalEnergies in Namibia.

   The deals would give TotalEnergies a 45.25 percent interest in block 2913B containing the Venus discovery and its light oil and associated gas and a 42.5 percent interest in block 2912. The Impact company will retain a 9.5 percent interest in each licence. “This transaction not only increases our share in the Venus discovery and remaining prospectivity on these blocks, but also represents a key step toward the development of Venus by consolidating the partnership and securing financing,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive of TotalEnergies.

Africa Oil Corp., a Canadian energy company based in Vancouver and with producing and development assets in deep water Nigeria, has signed production-sharing contracts with LNG potential offshore Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.

Kosmos Energy, the US-based shareholder in the floating liquefied natural gas joint venture offshore the West African nations of Mauritania and Senegal, has adjusted its shareholdings for the pre-emption rights of Tullow Oil plc of the UK after spending $550 million to acquire shareholdings in oil and gas fields offshore Ghana from Occidental Petroleum of the US.

Kosmos, a specialist in Atlantic Margin exploration and production and based in Dallas, Texas, had agreed in October 2021 to acquire an additional 18 percent interest in the Jubilee field and an additional 11 percent stake in the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) oil and gas fields offshore of Ghana.

Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC) was also acquiring stakes in the same fields from Occidental for $200M and will be the main partner of Kosmos.

The new Kosmos focus on Ghana comes as FLNG projects being developed with UK major BP offshore Mauritania and Senegal continue to progress, centred on the Greater Tortue-Ahmeyim gas fields.

The first Mauritania-Senegal FLNG production facility is scheduled to have first gas in early 2023.

Kosmos explained that in Ghana after execution of definitive transaction documentation and receipt of required government approvals, Kosmos and Tullow have now concluded their pre-emption transaction.

For another shareholder PetroSA of South Africa, the process is ongoing and remained subject to execution of definitive agreements and required government approvals.

Reductions

Following completion of the pre-emption by both Tullow and PetroSA, the ultimate interest of Kosmos will be reduced in Jubilee by 3.8 percent to 38.3 percent.

Under the changes Kosmos would retain 80 percent of the original acquired interest.

The ultimate Kosmos interest in the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme oil and gas fields offshore of Ghana will be reduced by 8.3 percent to 19.8 percent with Kosmos retaining 25 percent of the original acquired interest.

The consideration paid to Kosmos from Tullow after taking into account closing adjustments was around $118 million in the first quarter.

An additional $10M is expected to be payable on completion of the PetroSA pre-emption process and Kosmos plans to accelerate debt reduction with the proceeds.

The net 2022 production impact of the pre-emption exercise for Kosmos is a reduction of about 4,000 barrels of oil per day and is expected to result in one less Ghana cargo lifting this year and a reduction in 2022 capital expenditure of around $30M.

LNG progress

Kosmos said in its March 2022 earnings that the Mauritania-Senegal FLNG venture was 70 percent completed.

Both BP and Kosmos said the Greater Tortue-Ahmeyim LNG project had made steady progress in 2021.

All eight process modules have now been lifted onto the deck of the Floating Production Storage Offloading unit and mechanical completion of the process sub-systems was underway,

Construction was also completed of the 21st and final caisson of the breakwater and the subsea pipe-laying vessel completed its nautical trials in preparation for the offshore installation campaign in the second quarter of 2022.

Kosmos said that the FLNG hull had all four mixed-refrigerant compressors lifted onboard and pipe-rack installation operations had commenced.

TotalEnergies has made a significant discovery of light oil with associated natural gas in the Orange Basin offshore the southwest African nation of Namibia, boosting its project possibilities in the region.

Kosmos Energy, the partner of BP in two floating LNG projects offshore Senegal and Mauritania, said the front-end engineering and design for phase one was almost completed and the development plan had been submitted to both governments.