Offshore Oil Exploration Booms In Namibia With Key Decisions Looming

Namibia expects France’s TotalEnergies and Norway’s BW Energy to take final investment decisions on oil projects offshore the African country in late 2026, a senior Namibian official says.

TotalEnergies is expected to submit this summer a field development plan for the Venus project, while BW Energy and Namibia are finalizing a plan to develop a smaller discovery, Maggy Shino, Petroleum Commissioner at the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy, said on Tuesday.

Both TotalEnergies and BW Energy are set to make a final decision whether to proceed with the offshore field developments – which would be Namibia’s first ever – in the fourth quarter of 2026, Reuters quoted Shino as telling a conference in Paris.

In recent years, international majors have scaled back investments in Africa’s legacy producers such as Nigeria and Angola, and have instead opted for exploration offshore Namibia, hoping it would be the next Guyana and the next major oil producer and exporter.

TotalEnergies, Portugal-based energy firm Galp, and Shell have already made large discoveries offshore Namibia, kicking off the Namibian oil rush in 2022.

However, in a recent setback, Shell wrote down $400 million over an oil discovery offshore in offshore block PEL39 in Namibia that “cannot currently be confirmed for commercial development.”

Despite the downgrade of the discovery, Namibia remains a frontier province which majors are considering exploring and developing.

Chevron, for example, plans to begin drilling an exploration well offshore Namibia in 2026 or 2027.

At TotalEnergies’ Q1 earnings call, CEO Patrick Pouyanné said that the company’s project in Namibia is feasible but faces challenges because of low permeability.

TotalEnergies and Namibian authorities have started discussions about a possible development at Venus, Pouyanné said, adding that the supermajor could move with the project if it meets the rate of returns the company has set.

Source: Oilprice.com