Africa Oil in bid to up stake in Namibia’s Venus discovery

Africa Oil has made an offer to boost its shares in Impact Oil & Gas, a key partner of TotalEnergies in the giant Venus discovery offshore Namibia, the Canadian company announced on Monday.

Under the proposed deal, Africa Oil will purchase up to 8% of shares in Impact Oil & Gas from minority stakeholders for as much as USD 64 million.

Block 2913B, which contains the Venus discovery, is operated with a 45.25% stake by TotalEnergies and held 30% by QatarEnergy, 20% by Impact Oil & Gas, and 10% by the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR).

These shares are pending the finalisation of a farm-down deal announced in January, in which TotalEnergies grew its shares in Block 2913B by 10.5% and in Block 2912 by 9.39%. Africa Oil’s proposed transaction is also required to wait for the completion of that deal.

Impact Oil & Gas is also a stakeholder with 18.89% in Namibia’s Block 2912, adjacent to Block 2913B.

In February 2022, TotalEnergies encountered 84 metres of net oil pay in a high-quality Lower Cretaceous reservoir at the Venus 1-X well, with pre-drill estimates indicating the find could contain around 1.5 billion barrels of oil.

Since then, the company has drilled several test wells in the region with positive results and it is currently assessing the play for development.