French oil major TotalEnergies has acquired a 42.5 per cent operated interest in Namibia's PEL104 exploration licence as the firm expands its holdings off the southern African country, where it hopes to be the first to produce oil by the end of the decade.
The licence, acquired for an undisclosed sum from Maravilla Oil and Gas and Eight Offshore Investments Holdings, lies to the north of its 150,000 barrels-per-day Venus development and the Mopane mega-discovery, in which it acquired an operating 40 per cent stake last year from Galp.
Mopane is estimated to hold more than 10 billion barrels of oil. "We are very pleased to expand our portfolio and continue exploring the prolific resources of Namibia, in order to unlock further value that will benefit the country and all stakeholders," Nicolas Terraz, Total's president of exploration and production, said in a statement.
Last week TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne met with Namibia's president and Galp's chairman to discuss the next steps in developing oil and gas assets in the country. Total hopes to take a final investment decision this year on Venus, though complex geology has pushed up costs.
Three exploration wells will be drilled at Mopane this year to better understand its resources.
(Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz; Editing by Jan Harvey)