Chevron plans to begin drilling an exploration well offshore Namibia, where several international majors have found huge oil and gas resources in recent years.
Chevron Namibia Exploration Limited considers drilling the well in 2026 or 2027 in Petroleum Exploration License 82 in the Walvis Basin, Reuters quoted Chevron’s Namibian subsidiary as saying.
“With this programme, Chevron continues to activate its strong and growing exploration portfolio,” according to a company statement.
Chevron completed in February the acquisition of 80% and the operatorship in Petroleum Exploration License 82 (PEL 82) from Custos Energy. PEL 82 is one of the Walvis Basin’s most attractive opportunities, Custos Energy said at the time.
Custos will retain a 10% interest in PEL 82, while National Petroleum Company of Namibia (NAMCOR) will keep its 10% interest.
The Walvis Basin is north of the Orange Basin, where several major oil and gas discoveries have already been made by Shell, TotalEnergies, and Galp.
Chevron, for its part, is buying into offshore blocks offshore Angola and Nigeria in West Africa, looking to revive exploration in what it describes as an under-explored oil province.
In recent years, other international majors have scaled back investments in Africa’s legacy producers such as Nigeria and Angola, and have instead opted for exploration offshore Namibia, hoping it would be the next Guyana and the next major oil producer and exporter.
TotalEnergies and Shell have already made large discoveries offshore Namibia, kicking off the Namibian oil rush in 2022.
TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy are also expanding their efforts to explore for oil and gas in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia, which extends into South African waters. At the end of 2024, QatarEnergy entered into an agreement to buy from TotalEnergies an additional 5.25% interest in block 2913B (PEL 56) and an additional 4.695% interest in block 2912 (PEL 91), in the Orange Basin, offshore Namibia.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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