Shell’s Graff-1 well has made a “significant” discovery offshore Namibia, Reuters has reported citing three industry sources.
The news agency reported that Namibia would make an announcement next week on the results.
The well appears to have discovered two reservoirs. One has at least 60 metres of hydrocarbons, with an estimated 250-300 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Upstream reported earlier in January that Shell had found liquids in the Cretaceous reservoir.
The industry publication cited four sources as saying the Graff-1 had found light oil. It said Shell was focusing on two targets in the Upper Cretaceous sands. The company had found oil in a younger Cenomanian age reservoir.
Shell is drilling the Namibian frontier well with the Valaris DS-10 rig. It began drilling the well, on Block 2913A, on December 8, in around 2,000 metres of water.
Shell is the operator and has a 45% stake in the area, while QatarEnergy (QE) has 45% and Namibia’s state-owned Namcor has 10%. The partners acquired 7,500 square km of 3D seismic offshore Namibia in 2019.
It is not yet clear how much oil Shell would have to discover to make it commercial.
IHS Markit, in a note in December, said Shell needed to find “at least” 210 million barrels of recoverable oil. The consultancy also said that there were more prospects nearby, should Graff be successful.
“Finally we might be seeing some positive news from the deepwater players in Namibia,” said Gneiss Energy director Douglas Rycroft. “The history has been one of major disappointment over the last decade with a string of players attempting to unlock frontier plays in the Orange sub-basin.”
If the discovery is between 250-300mn boe, “the key now remains to be seen if a discovery of that size will be large enough to justify a standalone development by Shell. That said, given the comparative failures in many prominent exploration attempts in Namibia over the last few years it will certainly revive interest in the country.”
TotalEnergies is also drilling the Venus-1 well in Namibia’s Orange Basin. The French company began drilling a week before Shell but is thought to be having some difficulties.
The two wells are independent of each other and testing different play concepts.
Rycroft went on to say Shell and TotalEnergies’ activity “feels like a seminal moment for the country’s oil and gas industry and a long line of hopeful explorers who have placed their bet on its prospectivity”.
© Supplied by NamcorUpdated on January 28 at 9:01 am with comments from Gneiss Energy’s Rycroft.
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