Tower Resources’ long-running farm-out of a 25% interest in Namibia’s offshore Petroleum Exploration Licence 96 (PEL96) to Prime Global Energies has moved to the Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy for signature, bringing the transaction closer to legal completion more than 20 months after it was first announced.
The AIM-listed explorer said in its interim results released on Monday that the deed of assignment for the PEL96 transaction is now with the minister for signature.
The latest development follows the ministry’s formal approval of the farm-out in June, which satisfied the final condition precedent under Tower’s agreement with Prime.
However, completion still required executing the legal documents transferring the participating interest. Tower said on 24 August that all parties other than the ministry had executed the assignment deeds and that the Upstream Petroleum Unit was checking the documents before returning them to the ministry for signature and stamping.
Monday’s update indicates that the process has now reached the minister.
Tower agreed in January 2025 to transfer a 25% non-operated interest in PEL96 to Prime, which has upstream operations in Pakistan. Tower is transferring the interest from its licence holding.
Under the agreement, Prime is due to pay Tower US$2.5 million on completion of the Namibia farm-out, although US$1.875 million of that amount is to be held back pending completion of both the Namibia transaction and a separate farm-out involving Tower’s Thali licence in Cameroon.
The Namibia deal was initially expected to close during the first quarter of 2025 but has taken considerably longer as the parties worked through government and partner approvals.
Earlier this year, Tower said Namibia’s newly established Upstream Petroleum Unit had agreed to expedite consideration of the transaction. Namcor also completed due diligence on Prime, while seeking further documentation from local licence partner ZM Fourteen Investments.
The ministry eventually issued its formal approval letter on 25 June 2026.
PEL96 is located offshore Namibia in the Walvis Basin, where Tower has been evaluating a portfolio of large stratigraphic and structural exploration leads.
Tower has previously said the farm-out proceeds would help support further work on the licence, including reprocessing existing 2D seismic data to improve the imaging of prospective structures before determining the area for future 3D seismic acquisition.
The company has also pursued a separate transaction that could increase its interest in PEL96. In March 2025, Tower Resources Namibia agreed to acquire an additional 5% from local partner ZM Fourteen Investments for US$375,000, subject to approvals.
Tower said in June that approval of that transaction remained outstanding and that delays meant the parties were no longer contractually bound to complete it, although discussions were continuing.
If that acquisition and the Prime farm-out are both completed under the previously announced structure, Tower Resources Namibia would retain a 60% operating interest in PEL96.
The latest regulatory progress in Namibia comes as Tower reported a cash balance of just US$66,583 at 30 June 2026, according to Monday’s interim results supplied by the company.
It recorded an operating loss of US$844,141 for the six months.
Tower has repeatedly returned to the equity market this year for working capital. According to the interim report, it raised £375,000 in January, about £1.5 million in March, £400,000 in June and another £325,000 in August.
The company’s Namibia farm-out is therefore significant not only for advancing exploration at PEL96 but also because completion triggers cash payments under the Prime agreement.
Tower originally announced the Namibia transaction alongside a much larger farm-out to Prime in Cameroon in January 2025. Across the associated transactions, Tower said it would receive an aggregate US$4.375 million in cash, with US$937,500 received at the outset and further payments linked to completion of the two farm-outs.
