French energy giant TotalEnergies and American oil major Chevron have emerged as frontrunners in the high-stakes auction for a 40 percent operating stake in Galp’s Mopane discovery offshore Namibia, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
The Mopane field, which holds estimated resources of at least 10 billion barrels of oil, has attracted intense interest from the global oil industry as Namibia positions itself to become a top 15 oil producer over the next decade. Portuguese energy company Galp is targeting an announcement of the winning bidder by year-end as negotiations progress with a shortlist of preferred bidders.
More than 12 oil companies, including Exxon, Shell, and Brazil’s Petrobras, had initially expressed interest in the transformative project. However, Exxon withdrew from the race in June, while Petrobras indicated it had been outbid by Total in the competitive process.
“Negotiations regarding Namibia are progressing with a shortlist of preferred bidders strongly aligned with Mopane,” a Galp spokesperson confirmed, though the company declined to name specific companies. Both TotalEnergies and Chevron have declined to comment on their participation in the auction.
The strategic value of Mopane is amplified by its proximity to existing fields owned by both Chevron and TotalEnergies in Namibia’s prolific Orange Basin. Africa has historically provided between 25 and 40 percent of Total’s oil and gas production over the past two decades, and the company has identified Namibia as a key growth area even as projects in Mozambique and Uganda face financial and security challenges.
TotalEnergies already operates the Venus development near Mopane, a 150,000 barrel-per-day project with a planned final investment decision next year, though the field’s high gas content has complicated extraction economics. For Chevron, the Mopane acquisition represents an opportunity to revitalize its frontier exploration efforts after the company hired Kevin McLachlan, formerly with Total, as vice president of exploration.
Despite finding no commercial reserves in an earlier Namibian well this year, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth emphasized that the drilling still yielded valuable geological information for evaluating future prospects in the basin.
Namibia’s geology has proven challenging for several majors, with Shell notably writing down its discoveries in the country as uncommercial. However, the scale of discoveries like Mopane continues to drive significant industry interest in the emerging petroleum province.
Source: namibiaoilandgas.com