Robert Bose, Sintana Energy president, says 2023 of operations in Namibia marked a significant year of progress for the company.

Sintana is involved in five large and highly prospective onshore and offshore petroleum licences in Namibia’s Orange Basin and Colombia’s Magdalena Basin. 

Sintana has a 49% indirect interest in Custos, which has a 10% interest in PEL 83, where Namcor has 10% and Galp 80%.

In its end-of-year message, Sintana says the partners initiated a two-well drilling campaign in November, including an optional drill stem test on PEL 83.

Sintana also owns an indirect minority interest at 7.4% in PEL 87 through Custos Investments, which owns 15% in the PEL. The other partners are Pancontinental Energy (75%) and Namcor 10%.

The company is also involved in PEL 90 with Chevron (80%), Inter Oil (10%), and Namcor (10%).

Sintana acquired 49% of Inter Oil in March 2022. Inter Oil subsequently completed a farm-out with Chevron, resulting in a compelling interest to Sintana Energy of 5% carried interest through the initial exploration phase.

Bose said the continuing emergence of Namibia’s Orange Basin and the significant progress on both licenses and the adjacent blocks demonstrate the opportunity’s size and scale, the portfolio’s unmatched quality and the timeliness of the company’s entry. 

According to Bose, in November 2023, Chevron applied to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism for an Environmental Clearance Certificate, allowing drilling up to five exploration and appraisal wells.

“The numerous catalysts expected in the coming quarters will provide several opportunities to assess further and substantiate the multi-billion barrel potential of the Orange Basin in Namibia.

“Specifically for Santana, we look forward to the progress of drilling and other exploration activities on our blocks, unveiling the quality and opportunity associated with our unmatched position in the heart of the basin,” Bose said.

Throughout 2024, Bose said, Sintana expects substantial exploration and evaluation activities to occur throughout 2024, both on and around our offshore blocks.

Sintana expects the two-well drilling campaign on PEL 83 to be complete by the first quarter of 2023 and the delivery of the final 3D seismic analysis by Woodside on PEL 87 to trigger the option to become operator of PEL 87.

The drilling programme on PEL 90 is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Bose will assume the position of CEO effective 1 January 2024, while Doug Manner will take up the role of president.