Oil giant Chevron has announced it found no commercially viable oil and gas in its exploration of Namibia’s Orange Basin.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company said the well, Kapana 1X, in the PEL90 block, provided valuable information about the basin but did not yield commercial hydrocarbon reserves during exploration.
This comes a week after Shell disclosed it would write down about $400 million over an oil discovery offshore Namibia that it deemed commercially unviable.
Oil companies have flocked to the African country, with recent offshore finds ranking among the largest this century. However, exploration has faced setbacks.
The South African nation, which aspires to become an oil-producing country, has seen some companies scale back exploration efforts. Shell’s write-down this week is one such example, according to sources.
Meanwhile, companies such as Galp, Rhino Resources, and Azule Energy—a joint venture between Italy’s Eni and BP—plan to drill exploration wells in Namibia this year.
In April, Namibia’s national oil company signed a development deal with Chevron, granting the company an 80% operating working interest in an offshore block in the Walvis Basin.
The farm-out agreement with Chevron Namibia Exploration Limited (CNEL) allows the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) and local company Custos Energy to retain 10% interest each in petroleum exploration license 82.
“Chevron looks forward to working with our partners to continue exploration activities and support Namibia’s energy sector,” a spokesperson said.
Additionally, Chevron Namibia Exploration Ltd is the operator of PEL90, an offshore deepwater block located in the prolific Orange Basin, where Galp recently made a large discovery.
Namibia’s mines and energy ministry has described Shell’s write-down as a mere setback, emphasizing that exploration efforts will continue in other oil blocks in the country.
Moreover, TotalEnergies is also expected to make a final investment decision on its Venus discovery by year-end.
