CAPE TOWN, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Spanish oil major Repsol will drill its first offshore well in Namibia as earlyas February next year, a senior official at Namibian nationalpetroleum company NAMCOR said on Tuesday.
Repsol is the operator of the Welwitschia-1 well in theWalvis Basin, offshore Namibia, and in partnership withLondon-based oil and gas firm Tower Resources.
Respol is likely to be drilling as early as February orMarch 2014, Manfriedt Muundjua, a senior exploration andproduction official at NAMCOR told Reuters on the sidelines of agas and oil conference in Cape Town.
Known for its vast uranium reserves, Namibia is attractinginterest from oil and gas companies keen to explore its offshorepotential, which has been likened to Brazil's prolific Santosbasin.
Muundjua said Chariot Oil and Gas had confirmedthey were looking to drill their Central Block offshore WalvisBay in the latter half of 2014, although this depended on themfinding a partner.
Oil major BP has a 30 percent stake in Block 2513 inLuderitz Bay - farmed out by Serica Energy Plc last yearto help the junior company meet the costs of 3-D seismic data -and Muundjua said they were also expected to drill before theend of next year.
Brazilian oil and gas exploration company HRT in2013 drilled three wells offshore of Namibia, all of whichturned out to have no commercial potential, and helping sendtheir shares lower.