Shell Makes Fourth Oil And Gas Discovery Offshore Namibia

• Shell announced a fourth hydrocarbon discovery off the coast of Namibia today.
• Shell and another supermajor, France's TotalEnergies, have recently made some large discoveries in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia.
• Last year's massive deepwater discoveries, Shell's Graff and TotalEnergies' Venus, could be transformational for Namibia.

Shell has made a fourth hydrocarbon discovery offshore Namibia, one of the hot spots in offshore exploration right now.

The UK-based supermajor said on Wednesday that it had confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in the fourth exploration well, Lesedi-1X, it completed drilling offshore the African country.

"Further evaluation is required to determine development potential," Shell said in a statement carried by Reuters.  

Last month, Zoë Yujnovich, Integrated Gas and Upstream Director at Shell, said on Shell's Capital Markets Day that the supermajor would continue with its exploration efforts after making three discoveries in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia in the past two years. 

"What we're most pleased about in Namibia is that we have so far out of the three exploration wells and the one appraisal well that we have drilled, we have had top-quartile well-performance in every single one of our activities in Namibia," Yujnovich said.

Shell and another supermajor, France's TotalEnergies, have recently made some large discoveries in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia.

Earlier this year, Shell, QatarEnergy, and Namibia's state oil firm NAMCOR discovered light oil in a deepwater exploration well.

Last year, Shell and its partners made two discoveries in the same basin.

French supermajor TotalEnergies also made a significant discovery of light oil with associated gas on the Venus prospect in the Orange Basin early last year. Venus in Namibia could be a "giant oil and gas discovery," TotalEnergies said in an investor presentation last September. Appraisal and testing are slated for 2023. 

The giant discoveries offshore Namibia could make the country the next producer of oil.

Last year's massive deepwater discoveries, Shell's Graff and TotalEnergies' Venus, could be transformational for Namibia, the southern neighbor of OPEC member Angola, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie has said.

Namibia hopes that the major oil finds could help it double its economy in the next two decades. The economy of Namibia is currently valued at around $11 billion.  

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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