TotalEnergies has emerged as the favorite to buy into a major oil discovery offshore Namibia and become a partner of Portugal’s Galp in its development, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter.
Galp, which announced the Mopane oil discovery in 2024, plans to sell a 40% stake in the field and find a partner by the end of the year. Chevron was also said to be in the race for buying a minority stake in the Mopane field.
But TotalEnergies appears to be in pole position, at least according to Bloomberg’s sources.
The Portuguese company has confirmed several discoveries at exploration wells in the Mopane field, including one earlier this year.
Namibia has become the latest exploration hotspot and several oil majors have flocked to drill wells, especially in the Orange Basin, where most oil and gas discoveries have been made to date.
Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, and Galp have all made large discoveries offshore Namibia. Shell’s Graff and TotalEnergies’ Venus discoveries have launched the exploration rush in Namibian waters.
In October, BP confirmed an oil and gas discovery in the Orange basin offshore Namibia.
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Namibia hopes to become the next Guyana, but it lacks infrastructure to fast-track the discoveries, which make them more expensive and difficult to develop and monetize.
Namibia is weighing potential further incentives and financing options to offer to international majors preparing plans for oil production offshore the African country.
Earlier this year, a senior official said that Namibia expects TotalEnergies and Norway’s BW Energy to take final investment decisions on oil projects in late 2026.
Last month, SLR Consulting, on behalf of TotalEnergies and its joint venture partners, invited comments on the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) of the proposed development of the offshore Venus field. The comment period runs until December 3.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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