By America Hernandez, Sergio Goncalves and Wendell Roelf
LISBON/PARIS -Oil majors TotalEnergies and Chevron are front-runners in the auction for a 40% operating stake in Galp’s Mopane field in Namibia, four sources told Reuters.
Mopane has estimated resources of at least 10 billion barrels, and Galp has said it would announce a winner by year-end.
International oil companies have flocked to Namibia, which has no hydrocarbon production, after a string of high-profile discoveries beginning in 2022 showed the southern African country had the resources to become a top 15 oil producer by 2035, according to data from Namibia’s state-owned NAMCOR.
TotalEnergies and Chevron declined to comment on commercial matters.
“Negotiations regarding Namibia are progressing with a shortlist of preferred bidders strongly aligned with Mopane,” a Galp press officer said, declining to name the companies involved.
Total and Chevron both have oil field stakes in Namibia’s Orange basin adjacent to Mopane, although Chevron’s initial drilling failed to yield commercial hydrocarbons, the U.S. major said in January.
Total has said it aims to take a final investment decision on its own Namibian discovery, Venus, next year, although a high gas content in its field has made development challenging and more costly.
(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris, Sergio Goncalves and Wendell Roelf, editing by Inti Landauro and Louise Heavens)
