Monitor Exploration’s onshore push in Namibia began well before any partner arrived.
In 2018, the Ministry of Mines and Energy awarded the company Petroleum Exploration Licence 93 (PEL 93), covering central onshore Blocks 1717 and 1817 in the Etosha–Owambo Basin.
With tenure secured from the state, Monitor set about the methodical work that turns a licence into a drill decision: compiling legacy gravity and magnetic datasets, tying them to surface geology, and designing a low-impact 2D seismic grid to ground-truth the structural trends it had mapped.
Before 88 Energy came on board, the equity on the licence was straightforward: Monitor as operator with a majority interest, Legend Oil Namibia as a minority partner, and NAMCOR holding a carried 10% state interest. The technical programme in those early years was deliberately disciplined.
The team reconciled historical datasets, refined basin models, prepared the environmental paperwork for seismic over defined Areas of Interest, and iterated structural and stratigraphic lead maps as new desktop work came in. Several closures and stratigraphic targets emerged from this pre-farm interpretation cycle, giving Monitor a shortlist to test once acquisition funding was in place.
The farm-in was agreed in late 2023. Under Stage 1, 88 Energy acquired an initial 20% non-operated working interest.
It provided two investment elements: a cash consideration to Monitor for past costs (about US$0.7 million) and a carry of up to US$3.0 million to fund the 2024 work programme, including roughly 200 line-kilometres of low-impact 2D seismic.
The transfer of the first 20% closed in early 2024, with options for 88 Energy to earn up to 45% in later stages by funding subsequent budgets.
With funding secured, Monitor executed the seismic it had already scoped. The acquisition ran through 2024, and by December of that year, the processing and first-pass interpretation confirmed significant structures on multiple lines, outlining roughly ten to eleven independent leads across the 18,500 km² licence.
Those results, integrated with legacy gravity and magnetics, set up a prospective resources estimate and the next stage of de-risking.
Regulatory progress followed the technical work. In mid-2025, the Ministry granted a 12-month extension to the First Renewal Exploration Period, moving the expiry to 2 October 2026.
The extension came with defined commitments: a high-resolution airborne gravity and magnetic survey, supplemented by radiometrics; integration of all datasets to support selection of an initial drilling location; completion of an environmental impact assessment for drilling; and a minimum gross spend of about US$800,000 during the period.
In parallel, the joint venture launched a Stage 1A pre-drill programme with an agreed maximum commitment of up to US$1 million to complete the airborne work and prospect ranking.
Ownership remains broad but stable. Following the first farm-in stage, 88 Energy holds 20% (non-operated) with the ability to increase to as much as 45% subject to spend; Legend Oil Namibia retains 15%; NAMCOR holds 10%; and Monitor continues as operator for the balance.
Investment has also localised. In October 2025, Monitor announced a strategic partnership with Windhoek-based Somerschield Investments, taking a shareholder position in the operator’s Namibian subsidiary via a convertible instrument of up to N$12.9 million (about US$750,000).
The funds are earmarked for basin and prospectivity studies that feed directly into site selection for a first exploration well within the current licence window.
Taken together, the capital stack around PEL 93 now spans Monitor’s original spend to assemble and interpret legacy datasets, 88 Energy’s Stage 1 consideration and seismic carry (up to about US$3.7 million in total), the Stage 1A pre-drill envelope of up to US$1 million, the government-mandated minimum spend during the extension, and Somerschield’s local funding line.
Set against the technical milestones—new 2D seismic in 2024, airborne geophysics in 2025, and environmental approvals in train—the licence is advancing along a clear path: finish integration, rank prospects, and take a drill location decision ahead of the 2 October 2026 deadline.
In a national narrative dominated by offshore discoveries, Monitor’s story remains a textbook case of patient, data-led onshore exploration: secure tenure from the Ministry, build the subsurface picture from first principles, execute targeted surveys with partner funding, and move to drilling only when the pre-drill evidence supports it.
