QATARENERGY, one of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, is deepening its interest in the Orange basin by expanding its footprint in what industry experts consider one of the world’s newest and hottest oil and gas hunting grounds. 

This is as QatarEnergy, formerly known as Qatar Petroleum, this week announced it had entered an agreement with Harmattan Energy Limited (HEL), an indirect subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, to acquire a working interest in the Petroleum Exploration Licence and Petroleum Agreement for Block 2813B (PEL0090) in the Orange basin offshore Namibia. 

Pursuant to the agreement, QatarEnergy will acquire a 27.5% interest, while HEL (the operator) will retain a 52.50% interest. The other partners on the block are Trago Energy Limited and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), each holding 10% interest. 

Comme nt i ng on th i s development, Saad Sherida Al- Kaabi, Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs, who is also the president and chief executive officer of QatarEnergy, said: “This agreement demonstrates our commitment to continue expanding our upstream footprint in Namibia, and the strengthening of our partnership with our valued partner Chevron.” 

He added: “Following successful drilling operations in our other acreage in Namibia, we look forward to soon begin drilling the first exploration well on this block. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Namibian authorities and our partners for their support.” 

Block 2813B (PEL0090) lies about 200 kilometres offshore Namibia, and approximately 70 kilometres north of QatarEnergy’s Venus discovery. The licence covers an area of 5 433 square kilometres in water depth of 2 400 to 3 300 metres. 

During the last 25 years, QatarEnergy has signed numerous exploration and production-sharing agreements (EPSA), and development and production-sharing agreements (DPSA) with a number of major international oil and gas companies. These include Elf Aquitaine/Total, Anadarko Qatar, Maersk Oil Qatar, Occidental Petroleum Qatar, Qatar Petroleum Development, Talisman Energy Qatar, GDF Suez, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), Qatar Shell, Exxon Mobil and Dolphin Energy. 

These agreements have boosted Qatar’s oil and gas reserves through new discoveries and the development of existing fields. 

QatarEnergy is the state-owned petroleum and gas company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport and storage. The company’s operations are directly linked with Qatar’s state planning agencies, regulatory authorities and policymaking bodies. 

Meanwhile, Sintana Energy Inc, a public Canadian oil and gas exploration company focusing on Africa and South America, recently started drilling the fourth appraisal well at its Mopane discovery in the Orange Basin, which has been prioritised by the company following success at well Mopane- 1A.

“A positive result could help to firm up the farm-out price for the block,” wrote Auctus Advisors’ analyst Stephane Foucaud last week in an updated research note. 

A seismic target encountered near the Mopane-1X and Mopane- 2X wells, about eight kilometres to the west, has already been appraised by Mopane-1A to the southwest, the analyst noted. 

“The next well in the programme will be the Mopane-3X exploration well to be spud in early April,” he added, noting this well could add resources to Mopane.” 

Foucaud’s firm continues to believe that Sintana’s current share price reflects only the value of its interest in the Mopane discovery (PEL 83) that could be crystalised by a partial divestment process initiated by Portuguese exploration licence operator, Galp Energia. 

“The continued drilling programme increases the amount of ‘past cost,’ which could boost the price offered by a potential partner,” the analyst wrote. “We estimate the additional un-risked value of the upcoming drilling programme at PEL 83 (Galp), PEL 90 (Chevron) and PEL 87 at C$2.80/sh.” 

Foucaud added that success at the Tambotti-1X exploration well being drilled in PEL 56 could also have positive read through for Sintana’s PEL 90. 

In addition, Rhino Resources, BP and Eni are expected to start drilling an exploration well at PEL 85 soon. PEL 85 is adjacent to Sintana’s PEL 83 (Mopane) and PEL 79.