Operator on the hunt for new partner to bankroll hydrocarbon search offshore Namibia

Pancontinental Orange, a subsidiary of Pancontinental Energy, is on the lookout for a new partner to secure the required funds for exploration drilling in petroleum exploration license (PEL) 87, located in the Orange Basin, off the coast of Namibia, after Australia’s Woodside changed its mind about acquiring an interest in the license.

Pancontinental claims to have independently progressed interpretation of the PEL 87 intra-Saturn exploration inventory to include six additional leads, with the Oryx and Hyrax features now considered as prospects. The former is the older of the identified basin floor fans within the PEL 87 Saturn complex and exhibits a clear Type II AVO amplitude anomaly, representing the largest connected sand body at up to 144 square kilometers of the prospect’s total area of over 500 kilometers.

Iain Smith, Pancontinental Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to announce our estimates of prospective resources for the PEL 87 project, which we believe demonstrates giant potential with the figures comparing favourably to significant discoveries on-trend to the south. These results stand the company in good stead as we progress our farmout program to secure a farminee for exploration drilling at the earliest opportunity.”

The company explains that turbidite sands appear to be affected by blue water currents, with associated winnowing expected to ‘wash out’ finer grained sediments, potentially creating an extensive and high-quality reservoir system. The central area is said to be draped over a structural high that contains other overlying AVO anomalies assigned to the Calypso and Addax leads.

On the other hand, the Hyrax prospect is situated in the southern portion of the Saturn complex and exhibits Type II AVO amplitude anomalies over a combined 400-square-kilometer area. The firm underlines that the Hyrax reservoir target is slightly younger than at Oryx, and the turbiditic sands are believed to be more strongly affected by winnowing from blue water currents, with the redistributed coarse clastics displaying stacked geometries in some areas.

Barry Rushworth, Pancontinental Director highlighted: “These results verify the Saturn complex as a highly attractive exploration play, particularly given the significant size of the targets and major discoveries that continue to be made to our south within a comparable geological setting.

“The PEL 87 joint venture is well placed and in a prominent position within the Namibian Orange Basin, with an extremely valuable, high quality and extensive 3D seismic dataset. PEL 87 is the only permit not held by a major oil and gas company that is adjacent and on trend to the giant Mopane discovery, which is believed to host some 10 billion barrels of oil-in-place.”

The Oryx North (161 square kilometers) and Calypso (74 square kilometers) AVO amplitude anomalies are mapped within the middle sequences distributed throughout the Saturn complex. The brightest anomalies are located over the structural crest of the Oryx prospect. There is evidence of scouring of the underlying substrate in the central areas, whereas, in the south over Hyrax, the sands appear to have been redistributed predominantly by blue water flows and currents.

Pancontinental also mentions the Xerux prospect in the central northern portion of the Saturn complex over an area of 250 square kilometers, with Type II AVO amplitude anomalies evident within interpreted slope turbidites distributed throughout the middle sequences of Saturn, with scour and fill geometries that are strongly influenced by deep water currents.

Moreover, the firm elaborates that the Addax Channel and Addax Fan leads entail several AVO anomalies of between 85 to 330 square kilometers in area, in the upper or latest stage of clastic reservoir deposition within the Saturn complex. These deep water turbidite systems are interpreted to have been deposited in a channelized slope bypass system.

As deep canyons scour the underlying substrate within the main depositional axis, large areas of overbank deposits are interpreted to have been deposited in the upper proximal areas. The main turbidite bodies are interpreted within a base of slope fan system to the immediate northwest of the Saturn complex.

Furthermore, the Addax South lead is distributed over some 200 square kilometers in the uppermost sequence of the Saturn complex, with the interpreted sands heavily influenced by winnowing and redistributed into lobes that overlay the Hyrax prospect.

Located in the offshore Orange Basin, southern Namibia, PEL 87 covers an area of 10,970 square kilometers and is on-trend with many very significant hydrocarbon discoveries that have been made in recent times by Galp Energia, TotalEnergies, and Shell.

The permit, presently within the first renewal exploration period that began on January 23, 2024, and will end on January 22, 2026, was awarded to a joint venture led by Pancontinental in early 2018 for up to three terms over eight years, plus subsequent extensions, and may be converted to a production license under pre-agreed terms.

The current license period includes an associated work commitment to drill one exploration well or, if a drillable prospect is not identified, acquire either 500 square kilometers of 3D seismic data or 1,000 line kilometers of 2D seismic data. The blocks 2713A and 2713B in Namibia’s Orange Basin are governed by PEL 87, which is operated by Pancontinental with a 75% interest.

The firm’s partners are Custos Investments, which maintains a 15% interest, and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) with a 10% interest. Sintana, which has a 49% indirect interest in Custos, claims that Woodside informed Pancontinental about its decision not to exercise its option to farm-in into the PEL 87 project.

The notice was received in advance of the long stop date of May 18, 2025, after which Woodside’s option was due to expire. Sintana has also confirmed that a process is underway to secure an alternate farm-in partner to fund exploration drilling within PEL 87 at the earliest opportunity.

The company also underlines that significant prospectivity has been identified by the 6,593 square kilometers of 3D seismic dataset that was fully funded by Woodside, with subsequent interpretation and evaluation returning an inventory of intra-Saturn leads and prospects that are estimated to be consistent in size and scale to the discoveries made to date in the Orange Basin.

Robert Bose, CEO of Sintana, remarked: “The extensive dataset arising from the seismic acquisition campaign funded by Woodside, together with the continuing work to define and refine a significant inventory of leads and prospects, position the PEL 87 partners to expedite farm-in discussions. PEL 87 is an integral part of our Orange Basin portfolio.”

Pancontinental points out that it has prepared for the possibility that Woodside may elect not to farm into PEL 87, which is described as the only permit not held by a major oil and gas company that is adjacent and on trend to the giant Mopane discovery, where Galp recently reported the outcome of its Mopane-3X exploration well, keeping its original resource estimate of 10 billion barrels of oil in place, which suggests the drilling results continue to support this figure.

Smith noted: “With the benefit of the valuable 3D seismic data set and the significant technical work we have undertaken we look forward to our continued discussions with third parties as we work to secure an alternate farm-in partner for PEL 87.”