Supermajor Shell has struck light oil with its Graff-1 exploration well offshore Namibia, according to the country’s national oil company, a partner in the probe. The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) confirmed the discovery. Partners in the Orange Basin well included Shell Namibia Upstream and QatarEnergy. The probe was located about 270 km away from Oranjemund, and was drilled to a total depth of 5376 m in water depths of 2000 m.
The drilling operations on Graff-1 utilizing the Valaris DS-10 drillship began in early December 2021 and were completed in early February.
“While we can learn a great deal from the results of Graff-1, we anticipate that further exploration activity, including a second exploration well, will be required to determine the size and recoverable potential of the identified hydrocarbons,” Namcor said.
TotalEnergies has drilled the Venus-1 well in a neighboring block to the west where results are imminent.
Shell Namibia Upstream operates the Graff find with 45% interest; QatarEnergy also holds a 45% stake; Namcor holds the remaining 10% interest.
Namcor said extensive laboratory analyses will be performed in coming months to gain a better understanding of the reservoir quality and flow rates potentially achievable.