Namibia: TotalEnergies increases its stake in oil discovery.

TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with Impact Oil and Gas Namibia to acquire an additional interest in two blocks under development offshore Namibia, one of which contains the Venus discovery.

TotalEnergies will acquire an additional 10.5% interest in Block 2913B and an additional 9.39% interest in Block 2912, both operated by the French energy major.

Following completion of these transactions, which will be subject to the usual approvals by the Namibian authorities and the parties to the joint venture, TotalEnergies will hold a 45.25% interest in Block 2913B containing the Venus discovery, and a 42.5% interest in Block 2912.

Impact will retain a 9.5% stake in each license, while TotalEnergies plans to share the additional interest with its strategic partner and joint venture member QatarEnergy.

Under the terms of the agreement, Impact will be reimbursed for past costs incurred for this interest, through a payment of $99 million at closing.

Impact will also be retained for its remaining interest until it receives the first proceeds from the sale of hydrocarbon production, secured by a repayment mechanism based on Impact's share of production.

"This transaction not only increases our share of the Venus discovery and remaining prospectivity on these blocks, but also represents a key step towards the development of Venus by consolidating the partnership and securing funding for all partners, which will add value for all stakeholders," said Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.

Block 2913B (PEL 56) and Venus Discovery

Block 2913B contains the world-class Venus light oil field and associated gas field discovered by the Venus-1X well drilled in 2022, which encountered a sandstone reservoir containing high-quality light oil.

This well was reinvested, diverted and tested in the third quarter of 2023, obtaining positive test results. These results are currently being interpreted and integrated into development studies in the field.

Further evaluation of the Venus structure was undertaken with the drilling and testing of the Venus-1A appraisal well.

A third appraisal well on the Venus structure, Venus-2A, is currently being drilled by the Deepsea Mira rig, and a second rig, Tungsten Explorer, is currently drilling the Mangetti-1X exploration well, targeting a prospect located in the northern part of Block 2913B.

Mangetti-1X will then be extended to assess the northern zone of the Venus structure.

In addition to ongoing drilling operations, a 3D seismic acquisition program on the southern part of Block 2913B is currently underway. This program will cover an area in which other follow-up prospects have been identified from existing 2D seismic datasets. These include the Damara and Damara South prospects.

Impact currently holds a 20% interest in the block. The operator TotalEnergies holds a 40% interest, QatarEnergy 30% and NAMCOR, Namibia's national oil company, 10%. On closing of the farm-out agreement, Impact will hold a 9.5% interest in the block.