Portuguese oil company Galp Energia has initiated the sale of half of its stake in Petroleum Exploration Licence 83 (PEL 83), an exploration block offshore Namibia, where it recently made a significant oil discovery. With an 80% stake in the block, which spans nearly 10,000 square kilometers in the Orange Basin, Galp aims to sell a 40% stake, while Namibia’s national oil company NAMCOR and independent exploration group Custos each hold 10%.
The block encompasses the Mopane field, which Galp estimates to contain at least 10 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent following the completion of the initial exploration phase. This move by Galp has sparked a 17% increase in the company’s shares as of 0950 GMT.
While Galp has refrained from commenting on the matter, it has previously expressed its intention to attract other investors to its projects in Namibia, emphasizing the potential for large-scale operations in the region.
The Mopane discovery is poised to be one of the most substantial in the emerging basin, following successful exploration efforts by competitors TotalEnergies and Shell in recent years. This development holds the promise of catalyzing Namibia’s burgeoning oil industry.
Given the magnitude of international interest in growing oil production, Galp is also offering to relinquish control of the project’s development to the prospective buyer, expected to be a major international rival renowned for its adept project management.
To facilitate the sale process, Galp has enlisted Bank of America, with expectations that the transaction could yield several billion dollars, although the exact value remains uncertain. Namibia’s potential to become a new revenue source aligns with Galp’s existing investments in Brazil’s offshore sector and its involvement in a natural gas project in Mozambique’s Rovuma basin.