- TotalEnergies and Chevron have emerged as front-runners in the auction for a 40 per cent operating stake in Galp’s Mopane discovery in Namibia.
- Africa has provided between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of Total’s oil and gas over the past two decades.
Oil majors TotalEnergies and Chevron have emerged as front-runners in the auction for a 40 per cent operating stake in Galp’s Mopane discovery in Namibia, sources have stated.
Oil companies have flocked to Namibia, which has no hydrocarbon production, after a string of high-profile discoveries showed the southern African country could become a top 15 oil producer over the next decade.
Mopane has estimated resources of at least 10 billion barrels, and Galp wants to announce a winner by year-end.
“Negotiations regarding Namibia are progressing with a shortlist of preferred bidders strongly aligned with Mopane,” a Galp press officer said, declining to name the companies.
More than 12 oil companies, including Exxon, Shell and Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras, had expressed interest in Mopane, though Exxon withdrew in June and Petrobras said it had been outbid by TotalEnergies.
Namibia’s geology has proven challenging to many majors, including Shell, which wrote down its discoveries as uncommercial. TotalEnergies and Chevron both have oilfield stakes near Mopane.
Africa has provided between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of TotalEnergies’s oil and gas over the past two decades. The company has high hopes for Namibia, while projects in Mozambique and Uganda face financial and security hurdles.
TotalEnergies already has a 150,000-barrel-per-day development in Namibia close to Mopane called Venus, and has said its high gas content makes oil extraction complicated and costly. It hopes to take a final investment decision next year.
Chevron hopes to revitalise its frontier exploration. The U.S. company poached Kevin McLachlan, formerly with TotalEnergies, as vice president of exploration.
Chevron found no commercial reserves after drilling a well in Namibia’s Orange Basin this year, but CEO Mike Wirth said it still yielded valuable information to evaluate future drilling.