Grand Gulf Energy (ASX: GGE) has moved to join the likes of Shell, Chevron and TotalEnergies in exploring the “hot” offshore Namibia play by entering into an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in a large block in the Walvis Basin.
The company has entered into a binding option agreement to acquire 100% of Wrangel Pty Ltd, which has lodged an application for a 70% working interest in the Block 2312 exploration permit.
That application is in partnership with Namibian-based oil and gas company TSE Oil and Gas (20%) and the state-owned National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (10%).
Block 2312 is south of the Chevron-operated PEL 82 and covers approximately 16,800 square kilometres in water depths ranging between 1,400m and 2,000m.
AIM-listed Chariot – the previous operator of the block – completed a 3D seismic survey covering approximately 2,600 sq km in 2016, targeting leads identified from approximately 1,700km of 2D seismic data acquired in 2015.
The company processed this modern dataset alongside 3,500 sq km of legacy 3D seismic data, with the 6,100 sq km used by Chariot to map multiple dip-closed structural prospects.
The previous operator identified two well-developed source rocks (rich in organic carbon within the oil-generating window) and several thin-bedded sandy reservoirs saturated with oil when it drilled Wingat-1 in 2013.
The company reported a mean prospective resource of 1.1 billion barrels of oil at the site.
A number of global oil and gas super-majors have recently joined the rush to offshore Namibia following a string of discoveries.
The overall success rate in the Orange Basin since 2022 is greater than 80%, with more than 11 billion barrels of oil found to date.
To help with its Namibian plans, Grand Gulf has received firm commitments to raise $700,000 through a placement to professional and sophisticated investors, which the company intends to use primarily to fund further evaluation of Block 2312.
Grand Gulf has appointed Havoc Services as its corporate and technical advisor to assist in the assessment of the Block 2312 opportunity and to support the company in the identification and evaluation of additional frontier basin opportunities around the world.
Havoc subsidiary Harmattan Energy previously operated PEL 90 in Namibia, selling it to Chevron in 2022.
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