Expanding its exploration acreage in Namibia, multinational oil and gas company ExxonMobil last month announced that it had signed an agreement with the government of Namibia and state-owned National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) for the acquisition of four deepwater blocks.
The agreement saw the oil giant add 7 million net acres to its assets, including Block 1710 and 1810, as well as farm-in agreements for Blocks 1711 and 1811A. In an official statement, the company said the Blocks extend from the shoreline to 215km offshore Namibia in water depths of up to 4,000m.
“These agreements provide ExxonMobil with an opportunity to explore for hydrocarbons using advanced technology in the frontier Namibe basin,” said Mike Cousins, Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures at ExxonMobil.
Cousins pointed out that the company will employ its significant upstream experience and technological expertise while working alongside NAMCOR in its exploration activities.
Although offshore exploration in Namibia proved unsuccessful in 2018, with Tullow Oil and Chariot Oil & Gas wells coming up dry, ExxonMobil plans to begin exploration activities in the deep offshore blocks, seeing through the acquisition of seismic data and analysis later this year.
ExxonMobil will be the operator on Blocks 1710 and 1810, holding a 90 percent interest, while NAMCOR holds the remaining 10 percent. Five percent of ExxonMobil’s shares will be assigned to a local company. On Block 1711 and 1811A, ExxonMobil will have an 85 percent interest with NAMCOR retaining 15 percent.
In addition to this acquisition, Exxon has a 40 percent participating interest in the PEL 82 license, in the Orange Basin.
