Pancontinental Energy NL remains one of the longest-serving independent explorers in Namibia’s offshore sector.
From its early work in the Walvis Basin under Petroleum Exploration Licence 37 (PEL 37) to its current focus on the Orange Basin’s PEL 87, the company’s record traces the evolution of Namibia’s recent exposure in the ep-water search certainty to proven potential.
Pancontinental entered Namibia through PEL 37 in the Walvis Basin, an area of about 17,295 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 400 to 1,500 metres, roughly 420 kilometres south of the Angolan border.
The block targeted Lower Cretaceous turbidite fans and stratigraphic traps similar to those that later produced discoveries farther south.
In 2018, Pancontinental and its partners drilled the Cormorant-1 exploration well to a total depth of 3,855 meters. The well intersected a 50-metre-thick fan system but encountered only water. Gas shows in overlying shales confirmed the presence of a working petroleum system, even though no commercial hydrocarbons were found.
Data from Cormorant-1 on reservoir quality, fan geometry, and seal integrity became an industry reference point for later exploration in the basin.
At the time of drilling, the PEL 37 joint venture consisted of Tullow Namibia Limited (operator, 35%), Pancontinental Namibia Pty Ltd (30%), ONGC Videsh Vankorneft (30%), and Paragon Oil & Gas (5%). To limit financial exposure before drilling, Pancontinental sold one-third of its Namibian subsidiary to Africa Energy Corp. in 2017, thereby giving the Canadian junior an indirect 10 per cent effective interest in the licence. Pancontinental retained the remaining 20 per cent through its two-thirds ownership of the subsidiary.
When Tullow exited following the dry hole and the first term expired, the licence lapsed.
By 2021, the Ministry of Mines and Energy confirmed that PEL 37 had expired and that Paragon’s five-per-cent interest had not been transferred.
After concluding work in Walvis, Pancontinental redirected its focus to the Orange Basin, which was emerging as one of the world’s most promising petroleum provinces. Its principal Namibian asset became PEL 87, a block of approximately 10,970 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 500 to 3,000 metres. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy Petroleum Directorate Register (2023), Pancontinental holds 75 per cent, Custos Investments (Pty) Ltd has 15 per cent, and Namcor retains 10 per cent on behalf of the state.
PEL 87 lies directly north of Galp’s PEL 83, home to the Mopane discovery, and west of Shell’s PEL 39, the Graff field, positioning Pancontinental within the Orange Basin’s central deep-water fairway now defined by multi-billion-barrel finds.
Seismic interpretation has revealed a large, deep-water complex known as the Saturn Turbidite Fan System, covering roughly 2,400 square kilometres at its core and up to 4,000 square kilometres in total. Within this system, Pancontinental has mapped stacked fan lobes, channel-levee sequences, and amplitude-supported closures within Aptian–Albian sandstones—the same age as the producing reservoirs at Venus and Graff.
In April 2022, Pancontinental signed an Option Deed with Woodside Energy (Namibia) Pty Ltd, granting Woodside the right to acquire a 56% working interest in PEL 87. In exchange, Woodside agreed to fund a 3D seismic survey and make a US$1.5 million payment to Pancontinental.
The company’s ASX announcement of 19 April 2022 reported that the survey would initially cover 5,000 km² at a cost of approximately US$35 million and was later expanded to 6,593 km², with 5,952 km² acquired within PEL 87. Operated by Woodside, the programme re-imaged the Saturn Turbidite Complex and provided high-resolution data on stratigraphic and structural traps.
Pancontinental’s 2023 Annual Report stated that the new seismic “significantly enhanced understanding of basin architecture and prospect maturity,” identifying several amplitude-supported anomalies and high-quality closures. In 2025, Custos Energy and Pancontinental confirmed through a press release on PR Newswire that Woodside chose not to exercise its farm-in option, returning operatorship to Pancontinental and Custos while retaining data access under confidentiality terms.
Following Woodside’s withdrawal, Pancontinental began marketing PEL 87 to potential new partners to finance the first exploration well. The Ministry of Mines and Energy granted extensions to allow additional technical work. Pancontinental continues to operate with lean budgets, funding its Namibian activities through small equity placements and proceeds from previous farm-downs.
Despite limited resources, the company remains one of the few independents maintaining an unbroken offshore presence in Namibia. It regards the Orange Basin as its core strategic asset.
While Cormorant-1 in the Walvis Basin did not produce oil, it confirmed an active petroleum system, and its dataset continues to guide new entrants as they re-evaluate that region. In the Orange Basin, Pancontinental’s Saturn play places it amid the discoveries that have redefined the Atlantic margin.
Headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, and listed on the ASX under the ticker PCL, Pancontinental operates Namibian projects through Pancontinental Namibia Pty Ltd in partnership with Custos Investments and Namcor. Elsewhere, it holds minor gas-appraisal interests in eastern Australia’s Cooper-Eromanga region.
In its 2024 Annual Report, the company reported total assets of A$15.4 million, with Namibian projects accounting for more than 80 per cent of technical expenditure. Its market capitalisation stood at A$35 million by mid-2025.
Pancontinental’s early datasets from Cormorant-1 and the Saturn 3D survey continue to inform exploration across the Namibian shelf.
