Chevron Corporation wants to drill five exploration wells and five appraisal wells early 2024 on Block 2813B under PEL 90, offshore southern Namibia, in the northern Orange Basin.
The company has applied for an environment clearance certificate to start working on the Block.
Sintana holds a limited carried interest in the PEL 90, which covers 5,433 km2 in water depths between 2,300m and 3,300m.
Chevron entered into a farm-in and assumed operatorship with Sintana’s Namibian subsidiary, Trago Energy, on 4 October 2022.
Trago will maintain a 10% interest in the block, which Chevron carries through an initial 3D seismic shoot and one exploration well.
Meanwhile, the news that the Mopane exploration well in the Orange basin has spudded attracted excitement from the mines minister, Tom Alweendo, petroleum commissioner Maggy Shino and Custos CEO Knowledge Katti.
The semi-submersible Hercules started drilling the Mopane exploration well, one of two wells, on Block 2913B under the PEL 83 in early November.
Galp Energia has an 80% stake, Custos 10% and Namcor 10%. Sintana Energy has a 49% interest in Custos. Katti is a director in Sintana.
Alweendo said he looks forward to a safe and successful campaign on PEL 83 for the JV Partners and the people of Namibia.
Shino said testing the extension of the proven Upper Cretaceous plays into PEL 83 was exciting.
Katti said: “We believe PEL 83 will continue to demonstrate the world-class scale and quality of plays in Namibia’s Orange Basin.”
PEL 83 is north of Shell’s PEL 39, where Graff-1 and Jonker-1 wells are.
Katti added: “The significant prospectivity of PEL 83, together with its relatively shallower water depth, position it to be one of the most significant and profitable opportunities in the Orange Basin.”
Sintana also has an interest in PEL 90 through its 49% shareholding in Inter Oil, which partnered with Chevron Namibia (80%) and Namcor 10%.
