Galp Energia’s share price surged almost 7% on Friday following news it has drilled a successful appraisal and exploration probe on its significant Mopane light oil find in Namibia’s Orange basin and is now set to return to the discovery well to carry out crucial production tests.
The Lisbon-based player has not yet revealed the size of Mopane, but the fact that the appraisal well lies eight kilometres from the discovery probe gives a good indication of the find’s big areal extent.
The company’s stock price increased 6.67% from Thursday’s close to hit €15.55 on Friday morning at the time of publication.
The company is conducting exploration on blocks 2813A and 2814B in the Basin, a region rapidly gaining recognition as one of the world’s most promising oil and gas areas.
These blocks fall under Petroleum Exploration License 83 and are operated by a subsidiary of Galp Energia of Portugal. Sintana holds an indirect 49% interest in Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd, which owns a 10% working interest in PEL 83, while NAMCOR, the National Petroleum Company of Namibia, also holds a 10% working interest.
According to press releases from Galp and Custos, the Mopane-2X well on PEL 83 was drilled successfully to its designated depth, encountering a significant column of light oil in reservoirs of high quality.
Two exploration targets, as well as a deeper target, were fully cored and logged during drilling operations.
The appraisal target AVO-1 revealed a similar pressure regime to the Mopane-1X discovery well, located approximately eight kilometres eastward, confirming its lateral extension.
Following the completion of drilling operations, the rig will return to the Mopane-1X well location to conduct a drill stem test until early April.
Sintana said that Galp plans to analyze the acquired data over the next few weeks to evaluate the commercial viability of the discoveries.
PEL 83 is situated adjacent to PEL 39, home to Shell’s basin-opening discoveries at Graff-1, La Rona-1, and Jonker-1, as well as north and east of PEL 56, where TotalEnergies reported a significant oil discovery at Venus-1.
“This third light oil discovery in the Mopane complex and the appraisal results at the AVO-1 reservoir 8 km away from the 1X location provide further evidence of the scale and quality of our exploration portfolio held through our local partners, including Custos,” Sintana CEO Robert Bose said in a statement.
“We continue to be reminded of the timeliness of our entry into Namibia with the ongoing progress and success.”
Knowledge Katti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Custos, expressed his satisfaction with the exploration campaign’s success, hailing it as a significant milestone positioning Custos for further growth and success in the basin.
And Maggy Shino, Petroleum Commissioner for the Ministry of Mines and Energy, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the achievement as a proud milestone for Namibia’s oil industry.
The ongoing exploration endeavors in Namibia’s Orange Basin signify significant progress and potential for the region’s oil and gas industry, positioning it as a key player in the global energy landscape.