RE: YET AGAIN8 Apr 2026 12:41
Https://www.upstreamonline.com/exploration/shell-prays-for-n…
"Shell has started drilling a highly anticipated exploration well offshore Namibia as it resumes efforts to find the oil and gas sweet spot in its Orange basin licence. In early 2025, the supermajor announced that none of its five oil and gas discoveries in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 39 were commercial due to reservoir challenges, triggering a $400 million exploration write off. The news burst Namibia’s exploration bubble, although Shell stressed that it would continue to look for further exploration drilling opportunities in the block.
In early 2022, Shell drilled the Orange basin’s play-opening Graff discovery, a fact often overshadowed by the subsequent market hype about TotalEnergies’ huge Venus discovery and Galp Energia’s big Mopane find. After drilling Graff, Shell drilled eight exploration and appraisal wells in PEL 39, making four other landmark discoveries — Jonker, Enigma, La Rona and Lesedi — but to little commercial avail, despite suggestions of big in-place resources. As a result, Shell called time on further drilling until it felt it had a better understanding of the subsurface and, late last year, chartered the semi-submersible Deepsea Mira to begin a potential two-well campaign. The rig left Walvis Bay port last month and is now drilling ahead on location in PEL 39, according to marine intelligence provider VesselsValue.
The supermajor is coy about revealing much detail about this well, with a spokesperson saying only: “Shell along with its partners is progressing plans to conduct further exploration drilling activity in PEL 39 during 2026 to continue its evaluation of the prospectivity. This activity reflects Shell’s continued commitment to responsibly explore Namibia’s offshore potential in close collaboration with our partners and the Namibian government.” While the company has not revealed the name of the well, informed sources told Upstream that it is called Merlin-1X.
Graeme Bagley, head of global exploration and appraisal at consultancy Westwood Global Energy, explained the well site is about 10 kilometres east of Lesedi and 14 kilometres north of Graff. He said that Merlin-1X — which is a 45-day well — is understood to be targeting an Upper Cretaceous Coniacian play which Shell encountered in the deeper portion of its Graff-1X well in February 2022. This interval was flow tested over a seven-day period, with Shell being encouraged by the initial flow potential, although no quantitative information has been published, remarked Bagley. “Shell clearly see the Coniacian as the most promising [play] across PEL 39, exhibiting the best reservoir quality to date,” he said. “Success here may have the potential to unlock earlier discoveries made on the licence as a potential cluster development.”
Bagley describes the Coniacian as the 'Millenium Star' interval, a reference to a 777-carat flawless diamond found in 1990 by De Beers in Zaire —
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