The Portuguese oil and gas company Galp Energia and its joint venture partners have announced more oil and gas discoveries in an entirely new section offshore Namibia in the prolific Orange basin. 

A statement by Galp revealed that the new discoveries were made in the fifth well within the company’s second exploration and appraisal programme in the Orange basin. 

The successful exploration campaign was conducted in blocks 2813A and 2814B, where Galp is the operator (80%).

The company has joint venture partners in Custos Energy and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) with 10% each.

“These additional discoveries in an entirely new section of Mopane further demonstrate the scale and quality of the complex. An emerging clarity on the multi-phase potential of Mopane is underpinned by this world-class asset. We congratulate our joint venture partners on another safe and successful outing. We are uniquely positioned at the heart of this hydrocarbon province,” said Knowledge Katti, chairman and CEO of Custos. 

The latest discovery comes three months after Galp stated that it had encountered light oil and gas condensate in high-quality reservoir-bearing sands in its Mopane appraisal well. 

At the end of April last year, Galp stated that the first phase of its exploration in the Mopane field could contain at least 10 billion barrels of oil.  In a statement, Galp elaborated that the exploration licence is situated close to multiple other prospect, as well as oil and gas discoveries made by global energy players such as TotalEnergies, Chevron, Shell and Woodside. 

They confirmed that preliminary data indicate the presence of light oil and gas-condensate in significant columns, and light oil columns in deeper sand with high-quality sandstones.

Since the pressures and preliminary results at the well are higher than estimated, Galp believes this will unlock further exploration and appraisal opportunities in the southeast region of Mopane.

The company said the collected data will now be integrated into the reservoir model to support the planning of potential further activities. 

The proprietary 3D development seismic acquisition campaign is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2025. 

The higher-than-estimated pressures and preliminary results at Mopane-3X “unlock further exploration and appraisal opportunities in the southeast region of Mopane,” Galp said.

The company’s proprietary 3D development seismic acquisition campaign is on track to be completed in the first quarter of 2025. The processing of the information acquired will follow.

Meanwhile, oil majors such as Shell, TotalEnergies and Galp have during the last two years announced major oil discoveries in the Orange basin, including one massive find in 2024. 

TotalEnergies and Shell have announced significant strides, while TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy are expanding exploration efforts. 

At the end of 2024, QatarEnergy entered into an agreement to buy an additional 5.25% interest from TotalEnergies in block 2913B (PEL 56), and an additional 4.695% interest in block 2912 (PEL 91) in the Orange Basin.