NAMIBIA prt 29 Jun 2014 10:07
There are four frontier basins of particular interest to explorers: Namibe, Walvis, Lüderitz and Orange. Seismic data is being collected at each. OMV and Murphy intend to conduct a 3D seismic programme in the Lüderitz basin in this quarter and Tullow is currently doing the same in the Walvis basin. Others are engaged in 2D surveys, the precursor to 3D seismic.
Some explorers have or will soon drill wells. Spanish oil major Repsol bought a 44 per cent stake in offshore license 0010 which comprises three adjacent blocks in the Walvis basin in 2012. It aims to drill its first Namibian well alongside its partners, Arcadia Petroleum and Tower Resources, within the next couple of weeks.
Even though studies have been carried out in the area, Repsol remains cautious. “It is a high risk, high reward well,” says Didier Lluch, Repsol’s director of exploration in Africa. “The structures are significant but what will define the volumes will be the capacity of the source rock.”
As IOCs pile in it can be easy to forget that Namibia is yet to make a commercially-viable oil find. “We have been unfortunate so far for not having made any commercial discoveries,” says Mulunga. “Although five wells have been drilled over the last 18 months and there has been no [commercial] discovery, we’re still quite optimistic that there is oil in Namibia.”
Oil was found in May last year at the Wingat-1 well in the Walvis Basin drilled by Brazil’s HRT and its partner GALP Energia, but not in commercial volumes. In its drilling results HRT said that it had found two well-developed oil source rocks and several small reservoirs saturated with oil.
Hopeful that other areas would hold more oil the partners drilled two other wells later in the year, one nearby in the same basin and the other in the Orange Basin further south. Both wells turned out to be dry.
HRT’s 2013 drilling results were both good and bad news for oil explorers in Namibia. On the one hand, it proved that there was oil in the Walvis basin. On the other, it’s no use if there isn’t enough oil to justify production costs.
“Although the campaign did not yield any commercial discoveries, the potential for oil offshore Namibia was proved, specifically through the Wingat well in the Walvis basin,” says a GALP spokesperson. “The well was the first evidence of oil offshore in Namibia, and has opened a new exploratory play in the region.”
HRT and GALP are analysing data from the exploration campaign and deciding what to do next. Other explorers have not been deterred by the results. “We’ve learnt a lot about the blocks from the drilling that HRT has done,” says Friedman. “All of that is very, very positive.”
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