The Portuguese oil company Galp Energia announced that it has completed the first phase of exploration in the Mopane field off the coast of Namibia and estimated that there are at least 10 billion barrels of oil in place.
The company said it tested the Mopane-1X well in January and the Mopane-2X well in March. In both wells, located 8 kilometers apart, Galp Energia said "significant light oil columns were discovered in high-quality reservoir sands."
"In the Mopane complex alone, and before drilling additional exploration and appraisal wells, hydrocarbon in-place estimates are 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or higher," the oil company said.
The statement added that all data acquired during the current drilling campaign at Mopane will be analyzed and integrated into an updated reservoir model that will serve as the basis for refining Galp's near-term drilling plan to further explore, evaluate and develop the broader Mopane complex.
Galp Energia holds an 80% interest in Petroleum Exploration License 83, which covers an area of nearly 10,000 square kilometers in the Orange Basin, including Mopane. 10% of the license is held by the National Petroleum Company of Namibia (NAMCOR) and another 10% by Namibia's Custos Energy.
Knowledge Katti, CEO of Custos Energy, said that the successful completion of the exploration campaign at Mopane, including the well test, further demonstrates its scale and potential.
"With the current discoveries alone containing potential in excess of 10 billion barrels of original oil in place, Mopane is one of the largest discoveries globally," Katti said.
In early 2022, Namibia discovered light oil with associated gas in two wells, Venus-1 and Graft-1, drilled in the Orange Basin by the oil giants Total Energies and Shell.
In March 2023, Namibia discovered its third major oil field in the Orange Basin: Shell and QatarEnergy successfully drilled the Jonker-1X field, leading to increased exploration and appraisal activity in the country.
NAMCOR announced in June that it expects the country to begin producing oil by 2029. According to the company, the discovery of oil and gas fields in Namibia could generate more than 4,000 jobs.
In late March, Namibia's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Peya Mushelenga, said during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow that Namibia expects to implement joint projects with Russia in the spheres of green hydrogen and oil.