French giant Totalenergies said increasing its stake in Namibia's two oil blocks was a "key step" towards developing the Venus field off the coast of the South African country.
Starting in 2022, totalenergies and Shell have carried out a lot of exploration in the waters off Namibia, giving hope for transforming the economy of this sparsely populated country.
Totalenergies said in a statement on Wednesday that it had agreed to acquire an additional block 2913b block 10 from Impact Oil &Gas5% interest, increasing its share to 4525%, the block contains the Venus discovery. The French energy giant will additionally purchase Block 2912 94% stake.
Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive officer of Totalenergies, said in the statement that this "represents a key step in the development of Venus by cementing the partnership and securing financing for all partners, which will add value to all stakeholders".
IMPACT is a subsidiary of Africa Oil Corp) and Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited, which holds an 81% stake, will repay past costs through a US$99 million payment. It will keep 9 per license5% share and will receive a loan from Total to cover future exploration expenses until the first production proceeds are received.
Totalenergies said it plans to share its additional interests with its strategic partner and joint venture member Qatar Energy (QatarEnergy). The Namibian National Oil Company (NANC) also holds a stake in these blocks.
Jefferies International served as financial advisor to Impact on the transaction, while Africa Oil was advised by Evercore.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, Portuguese operator Galp Energia SGPS SA said it had found a "significant light oil column" in the licence area near the Shell and TotalEnergies discoveries. Galp said drilling operations will move to deeper targets and then to another site to assess the extent of the discovery. (Compiled by Xiao Chen).
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