Qatar Petroleum has farmed in to two exploration blocks offshore the Republic of Namibia through an agreement with Shell.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to customary approvals, Qatar Petroleum will hold a 45% participating interest in the PEL 39 exploration license pertaining to Block 2913A and Block 2914B, while Shell (operator) will hold a 45% interest, and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) will hold the remaining 10% interest.
A Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary agreed to acquire Kosmos Energy’s 45% interest in the Namibia asset in September 2020 as part of a larger deal to acquire certain frontier exploration assets from the Dallas-based company (OGJ Online, Sept. 9, 2020).
According to Shell’s website, the company completed three seismic surveys on the license between 2014 and 2019 to identify geological structures below the seabed which might contain oil or gas. Having analyzed the data, the next step is to drill a well to determine whether oil or gas is present in quantities that could be extracted commercially, according to the website, but no timeframe was given.
The agreement marks the second in Namibia for Qatar Petroleum. In August 2019, the company entered into agreements with Total for participation in Blocks 913B and 2912 offshore Namibia (OGJ Online, Aug. 27, 2019).
The PEL 39 blocks lie in water depths of about 2,500 m, covering an area of about 12,300 sq km.
