TotalEnergies has commenced drilling at a new exploration well near a previously discovered light oil reserve in Namibia’s Orange Basin, utilizing the Deepsea Mira, a semi-submersible rig operated by Northern Ocean and managed by Odfjell Drilling. This step marks a significant advancement in TotalEnergies’ exploration activities in the region, leveraging a rig that has been under contract with the French energy company since December 2022. The rig previously appraised the Venus light oil discovery offshore Namibia, with multiple contract extensions granted through 2024.
As the appraisal phase of the Venus discovery—spanning wells Venus-1X ST, Venus-1A, Venus-2A, and Mangetti-1X—concludes, plans are progressing toward development. A Phase 1 development scheme is expected to be finalized by late 2025, setting the groundwork for Namibia’s potential role as a new oil production hub.
In preparation, two extensive 3D seismic surveys were conducted in 2024, covering most of the 2913B and 2912 license areas to enable further resource identification. TotalEnergies resumed exploration drilling on Block 2913B on October 20, with the Tamboti-1X exploration well, targeting an estimated 1 billion barrels. These drilling activities are being carried out with the advanced Deepsea Mira rig, located north of the Venus accumulation and close to the Mangetti-1X discovery.
Drilling in the Orange Basin continues as Saipem’s Santorini drillship begins Galp’s second exploration and appraisal campaign in the basin, where notable discoveries have already been made by Shell and TotalEnergies.
Gerard Walsh, Chairman of Westmount Energy, whose investee company Africa Oil Corp. (AOC) holds a 32.4% stake in Impact Oil & Gas, commented: “The announcement by our investee AOC that exploration drilling has recommenced on Block 2913B with the spudding of a 1bn bbl prospect at Tamboti-1X to the north of the giant Venus accumulation, and potential follow-on drilling to the south of Venus, is good news.
“It confirms our view that the Orange Basin is a major emerging, prolific hydrocarbon province and that Blocks 2913B and 2912 contain a prospect inventory with the potential for significant resource additions to that which has already been discovered at Venus and Mangetti. This exploration drilling is taking place in parallel with progress on the Phase 1 development scheme for Venus, which is expected to be finalised by the end of 2025.”
AOC, through its investee Impact Oil & Gas, recently finalized a farm-down of interests in Blocks 2912 and 2913B with TotalEnergies. The agreement provided a cash payment of approximately $99 million for back costs, while Impact retained a 9.5% stake in each block. Under this arrangement, AOC is fully “loan-carried” for all remaining exploration, appraisal, and development costs, with repayment structured through a share of Impact’s after-tax cash flows from production on these blocks.
TotalEnergies holds a 45.25% interest in Block 2913B (home to the Venus discovery) and a 42.5% interest in Block 2912. Other stakeholders include QatarEnergy and NAMCOR, Namibia’s national oil company.
Walsh further emphasized the significance of the Impact/TotalEnergies transaction: “The AOC/Impact share of all of this exploration, appraisal, and development work is now funded by an interest-free ‘loan carry’ with no cap. Westmount’s shareholding in AOC offers continuing exposure to an exciting funded program of high-impact drilling in the Orange Basin, and we look forward to further newsflow in this regard.”
Block 2913B, part of Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 56, covers approximately 8,215 km² offshore southern Namibia in water depths ranging from 2,450 m to 3,250 m. Block 2912, under PEL 91, lies to the west of Block 2913B, spanning around 7,884 km² in water depths of 3,000 m to 3,950 m.
In a related development, Northern Ocean’s Deepsea Bollsta rig, another sixth-generation semi-submersible managed by Odfjell Drilling, recently began an appraisal assignment off the coast of Ghana. Arriving at Springfield E&P’s Afina discovery in the WCTP-2 offshore block, the rig is currently involved in appraisal operations at the Afina-1X well.
