QatarEnergy announces third oil discovery in Namibia

QatarEnergy said that it has found oil offshore Namibia making it the third offshore oil discovery made in the African country.

In a press statement, QatarEnergy noted that the light oil discovery in the Jonker-1X deep-water exploration well was made after drilling in the PEL-39 exploration license, offshore Namibia.

The Jonker-1X deep-water well is located 270 km off Namibia. Drilling operations on the well began in December 2022.

His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said: “We are pleased with this encouraging discovery, which is our third in Namibia. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our partners Shell and NAMCOR, and to congratulate and thank the Government of the Republic of Namibia, which has been very supportive of this exploration effort.”

The PEL-39 Exploration License is held by a consortium comprised of QatarEnergy (with a 45 percent working interest), Shell (Operator with a 45 percent working interest) and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) (with a 10 percent working interest).

This announcement follows two similar announcements by QatarEnergy in February 2022 of oil discoveries in the Graff-1 well and in the Venus-1X prospect, both located in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia. Both of these discoveries were made in deep-water. The Graff-1 well was drilled to a total depth of 5,376 meters in water depths of approximately 2,000 meters in the PEL-39 license area, which covers a total area of 12,299 km2. 

In addition to the PEL-39 Exploration License, QatarEnergy also holds interests in PEL-56 (30 percent) and PEL-91 (28.33 percent) in offshore Namibia covering a total area of 28,327 km2.