Chevron’s affiliate, Harmattan Energy, has applied for an Environment Clearance Certificate (ECC) to undertake further exploration and appraisal activities within Licence Block 2813B.
The proposed offshore exploration programme includes drilling up to five exploration wells and five appraisal wells, vertical seismic profiling (VSP), well testing and plugging and abandonment of wells in the deep offshore.
Harmattan is the holder of an Exploration Licence for Licence Block 2813B, located on the southern coast of Namibia.
Licence Block 2813B covers an area of approximately 5,433km² and is located between 200km and 290km offshore in water depths ranging from 2,300m to 3,300m.
Before the proposed exploration activities can commence, Harmattan requires an ECC from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism. As part of this process, an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) must be undertaken.
SLR Environmental Consulting (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd (SLR) has been appointed to undertake and manage the ESIA process.
This comes after American multinational energy corporation Chevron completed a major deal worth N$1.8 billion in Namibia that will see the firm take control of a coveted exploration licence close to the Venus and Graff discoveries by TotalEnergies and Shell respectively.
“Chevron Namibia Exploration Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron, confirms it acquired an 80% working interest in PEL90, in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia. This acquisition further strengthens the company’s upstream exploration portfolio,” a Chevron official said.
The transaction marked Chevron’s first entry into southern Africa since its aborted foray into South Africa’s nascent onshore shale gas play some years ago.
The California-headquartered player, whose revenues surged to US$215.974 billion for the twelve months ending 30 June 2022, currently has its African portfolio centred on Angolan assets offshore Cabinda.
Before the deal, Harmattan Energy had a 37.06% stake in the Orange Basin licence, while Trago Energy had 52.94% and NAMCOR 10%.
Shell and TotalEnergies announced offshore drilling success in February this year. In April, Shell made a second Orange Basin discovery, also on PEL39, with the La Rona-1 Well.
