PEL0094, Namibia

Home / Operations / PEL0094, Namibia

Introduction

Global holds a 78% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 0094 (Block 2011A) in the Walvis Basin, offshore NW Namibia. This covers 5,798 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 450 metres to 1550 metres. State oil company NAMCOR has a 17% carried interest and private company Aloe Investments Two Hundred and Two (PTY) Ltd has a 5% carried interest. Global also previously held PEL 0029 from 2010 until its expiry in December 2020.

LocationLicence No.BlockSize/water depthPartners
Walvis Basin00942011A5,798 sq. km / 350-1,550 metresGlobal Petroleum Namibia Limited 78% (operator)

NAMCOR 17% (carried interest)

Aloe Investments Two Hundred and Two (PTY) Ltd 5% (carried interest)

The entire Walvis Basin is significantly under-explored although the wells drilled to date have encountered multiple source rocks and reservoir intervals and, in a number of cases, hydrocarbon shows. Only eight wells have been drilled to date – by Norsk Hydro, Sasol, Ranger, HRT, Repsol and, most recently in 2018, by Tullow and Chariot. Of the wells drilled in the Walvis Basin, Global regards the HRT operated Wingat-1 well as being the most significant in that liquid hydrocarbons were recovered from the Aptian interval, thus establishing for the first time that a source rock has charged oil into a trap in the Walvis Basin.

In 2017 Global completed an infill 2D seismic program of 840km across the adjacent PEL0029 licence with particular focus on the primary prospect Gemsbok. The subsequent interpretation confirmed three prospective, very large, fault and dip-closed structures: Gemsbok, Lion (which can be sub-divided into Lion North and Lion South) and Dik-Dik.

Global was encouraged enough to apply for Block 2011A to the east where similar plays are seen in the Welwitschia Deep structure, as well as other plays, which have been demonstrated elsewhere in the Walvis Basin. A Petroleum Agreement for this acreage was signed with the Namibian Government and our partners in September 2018 and the PEL0094 licence was subsequently issued. Global has mapped 3D and 2D seismic across the basin and across this licence and confirmed that the source rock is present and is able to charge oil into  the significant portfolio of prospects and leads.

Namibia has attractive fiscal terms and an excellent working environment.

Current Status

Licence PEL0094: Block 2011A

This was originally granted to Global Petroleum Namibia Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Global Petroleum Limited, in September 2018. The other licence partners, who are both carried by Global, are Aloe Investments Two Hundred and Two (PTY) Ltd (5%) and NAMCOR, the Namibian State oil company (17%). Global has 78% and is operator of the licence. Block 2011A covers 5,798 square kilometres in water depths ranging from 450 metres to 1,550 metres. The licence has an initial exploration period of four years from date of award, split into two sub-periods (three years plus an optional one year), followed by two further optional two-year renewal periods

Licence PEL0029: Blocks 1910B and 2010A

Held for 10 years, this licence expired in December 2020. The company completed all licence work programme commitments. It is the Company’s current intention to apply for a new licence in due course.

Prospectivity

  • Welwitschia-1A well drilled in western part of PEL0094 in 2014, targeted Upper Cretaceous sandstones, which were absent at this location, but the well proved excellent seals
  • Global believes that there is significant prospectivity – similar to that in PEL0029 – in deeper Albian carbonates (“Welwitschia Deep”), which Welwitschia-1A did not reach
  • Additional prospectivity in Upper Cretaceous reservoirs on the flanks of the Welwitschia structure e.g. the Marula prospect

Welwitschia Deep prospect

  • Albian carbonates in a fault and dip-closed trap
  • Mapped on 3D seismic data
  • Best estimate (P50) unrisked prospective resource 671 MMbbls gross in PEL0094, 523 MMbbls net to Global with a geological chance of success of 14%

Marula prospect

  • Upper Cretaceous sandstones mapped on 3D seismic data in a distal pinchout trap with a strong amplitude anomaly conforming to structure down-dip
  • Best estimate (P50) unrisked prospective resource 210 MMbbls gross in PEL0094, 164 MMbbls net to Global, with a chance of success of 22%

Prospective Resources

Updated prospective resources for PEL0094 were released in January 2021 and these are shown in the table below.

 Gross*
Prospective Resources
within PEL0094		Net Attributable**
Prospective Resources (NAPR)
within PEL0094		Risk
Factor		Risked
NAPR in
PEL0094
Prospects or Leads1U
Low
Estimate
(P90)		2U
Best
Estimate
(P50)		3U
High
Estimate
(P10)		Mean
Estimate		1U
Low
Estimate
(P90)		2U
Best
Estimate
(P50)		3U
High
Estimate
(P10)		Mean
Estimate		(%)Risked net 2U
Best
Estimate
(P50)
 OIL — millions of barrels
Prospect
Welwitschia Deep		1626711863881126523145368714%73
Prospect
Marula		1092103372188516426317022%36
Lead
Ana		429117510233711378011%8
Lead
Quiver Tree		27547678650821537161339611%41
Lead
Quiver Tree South		2623965664072043094413177%22
Lead
Plum		79164311182621282431427%9
Lead
Plum South		413361731028136%1
Lead
Plum Deep		2264668945231763636974086%22
Lead
Monkeythorn		2204428314911723456483837%24
TOTAL 2929 3329 2284 2596 236

Notes

* “Gross” means 100% of the resources attributable to the licence PEL0094, so does not include any resources outside of the licence.

** “Net Attributable” are those resources attributable to Global Petroleum Limited at its working interest of 78% (these are not net of the 5% royalty)

The operator of the licence is Global Petroleum Namibia Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Global Petroleum Exploration Limited, which is a 100% subsidiary of Global Petroleum Limited

“1U, 2U and 3U” denotes the unrisked low, best and high estimates respectively qualifying as Prospective Resources, and where there should be at least a 90%, 50% and 10% probability respectively that the quantities recovered will equal or exceed the estimates

“Risk Factor” is the estimated probability that exploration activities will confirm the existence of a significant accumulation of potentially recoverable petroleum. This, then, is the chance or probability of the Prospective Resources maturing into a Contingent Resource. Where a prospect could contain either oil or gas the hydrocarbon type with the higher probability of being discovered has been listed in the table.

Prospective Resources Cautionary Statement (in accordance with AIM Listing Rules): the estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of a future development project(s) relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation are required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.

Competent Person – Global
The petroleum resources information in this release is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation in a report compiled by Paul Howlett, who is a qualified person for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies. Paul is Consultant Exploration Manager for Global Petroleum and director/principal of Energy Explorers Limited . He has a Master’s Degree in Sedimentology from Birkbeck College of the University of London, is a Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and has 28 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr Howlett has consented in writing to the inclusion of the petroleum resources information in this announcement in the form and context in which it appears.

PEL0094 (Block 2011A)
As part of its assessment of the acreage prior to the application Global determined that there is significant prospectivity in the Albian Carbonates (Welwitschia Deep prospect), which the previous well drilled by Repsol in 2014 did not reach. Leads had also been identified in shallower, Upper Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs on the eastern flank of the structure (Marula prospect) and also in multiple potential reservoirs in the eastern part of the Block. In March 2020 Global licensed the 3D seismic data (see the release of 7th April 2020 for more details on this), immediately interpreted it and then issued new prospective resource and geological chance of success numbers for the Marula and Welwitschia Deep prospects (release of 20th July 2020).

As expected, the interpretation of the 3D seismic data led to increased confidence in the Marula and Welwitschia Deep prospects. The Marula prospect is a distal pinchout of Cretaceous sandstones onto the Welwitschia high. It has Best Estimate unrisked gross prospective resources of 210 million barrels of oil (164 million barrels net to Global). Global’s interpretation of the 3D seismic data has revealed a significant amplitude anomaly whose down-dip edge conforms with structure, which has a geological chance of success (risk factor) of 22%. The Welwitschia Deep prospect has also been confirmed by interpretation of the 3D seismic data and the Albian carbonate reservoir has Best Estimate unrisked gross prospective resources of 671 million barrels of oil (523 million barrels net to Global) with a geological chance of success of 14%.

Walvis Basin background

The Namibian Offshore area is under-explored with fewer than 20 wells drilled over a wide area. Some of these wells have encountered hydrocarbon shows notably Wingat-1, which recovered oil to surface, but to date no commercial oil volumes have been discovered.

Recent exploration history

  • Global signed licence PEL0029 in 2010 early in the last wave of industry activity in Namibia
  • HRT proved the regional source rock was present and generating oil in the Walvis Basin in 2013 (Murombe and Wingat wells)
  • In 2014 Repsol drilled the well Welwitschia-1: although it failed to find any reservoirs and it didn’t reach the deeper secondary target in the Albian
  • Two wells drilled in late 2018: Tullow’s Cormorant and Chariot’s Prospect S proved reservoirs
  • In the last few years Tullow and ONGC have farmed into PEL0030 and PEL0037 (green outlines)
  • In 2018 Exxon Mobil farmed into GALP licence (yellow outline) in the Walvis Basin

Future Namibian drilling activity

  • Both TotalEnergies and Shell started drilling the Venus and Graff wells (respectively) offshore southern Namibia in December 2021. A commercial discovery at either of these wells would prove the capability of the
  • Others reporting multiple wells in 2022 or later in the Walvis Basin and other basins offshore Namibia

Overview and geology

The Welwitschia-1A well, drilled by Repsol in 2014, is the only oil and gas well to have been drilled to date within the area of the licence. This well was primarily targeting Upper Cretaceous sands on the crest of a large structure and encountered no reservoirs. Global believes that there is significant prospectivity in the deeper Albian-Apian carbonates, which this well did not reach, and, additionally, in Upper Cretaceous reservoirs on the eastern flank of the Welwitschia structure. Wells which have encountered one or other of these reservoirs are 50 to 100km away, e.g. 1911/10-1 and 1911/15-1 to the NE and 2012/13-1 to the SE. Drilling in 2018 included Tullow’s Cormorant-1 well about 50km to the SE of Block 2011A, which confirmed the presence of Albian deep water sandstones, and Chariot’s Prospect S (2312/7-1) just over 300km to the south, which encountered high quality Upper Cretaceous sandstones.

All the necessary play elements for an oil discovery are found to be present in the Namibian offshore: a world- class quality, Aptian-aged, source rock and reservoirs in the Barremian, Albian and Upper Cretaceous/Lower Paleocene, all of which have proven seals associated with them.

Rich, oil-prone, Aptian-Barremian source rocks are present in Wingat-1, Murombe-1, Moosehead-1 and at Kudu, where it has sourced significant volumes (multiple tcfs) of gas. In addition to the oil at Wingat-1, trace oil was extracted from core in the Albian carbonate reservoir at 1911/15-1, migrant oil was sampled from Upper Cretaceous sandstones at 2012/13-1 and slicks detected by satellite have been noted to the north of the Gemsbok prospect in PEL0029. In PEL0094 a survey sampled gas from seabed cores, which was interpreted by the contractor to be at least partly generated from a deeply buried source rock. This suggests that, of the oil and gas generated by the Aptian source rock, some of the gas has leaked up through a large fault imaged on the seismic data that underlies these cores, whereas the oil has been trapped in the sub-surface. Also visible on the seismic in PEL0094 is a very large area of probable shallow gas above the aforementioned large fault and, whilst this will never be a commercial accumulation, it does, with the evidence of gas from the seabed cores, indicate a working source rock within PEL0094.

Specialist studies on the seismic and wells have enabled Global to map the source rock with some confidence into PEL0094 and a petroleum systems modelling study has confirmed that not only is the source rock mature, but that it has generated oil that has migrated to and filled the prospects.

Albian-Aptian, shallow marine carbonate reservoirs, the main targets at Welwitschia Deep, Gemsbok, Lion and Dik Dik are present in the wells 1811/05-1 (Tapir South-1), 1911/15-1 and 1911/10-1, where the reservoir quality is good. This reservoir is mapped in large, dip and fault-closed structural traps in Global’s prospects. In the western part of PEL0094 the Welwitschia Deep prospect is already covered by 3D seismic data and Global’s interpretation of the data has confirmed this large prospect.

Further into the basinal areas the Albian is expected to be composed mainly of deep water mudstones and sandstones, which were proven as a new play type by Tullow’s Cormorant-1 well. Global’s model is that the play extends into the SE corner of PEL0094 and east of here in PEL0097 the Osprey prospect, with Albian sandstones as the prognosed reservoir, has been mapped by the operator.

Global interprets the presence of Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene sandstone reservoirs in both PEL0094 and PEL0029. These sandstones have been intersected in most of the deep water wells offshore Namibia, including nearby wells 2012/13-1, 1911/15-1 and 1911/10-1. The reservoir quality is good and at 2012/13-1, to the SE of PEL0094, migrant oil was sampled from these sandstones.

Within the area of the 3D seismic data survey in PEL0094, the Marula prospect has been mapped with Upper Cretaceous sandstones in a distal pinchout trap. There is a strong amplitude anomaly whose edge conforms to structure down-dip, and this edge could be an oil-water contact. As such, Global considers this to be the most attractive of its prospects. The forward plan is to work up existing data and other data yet to be licensed to showcase this potential, and then partner with a credible deep water operator to move the exploration of the two licences forward.

A summary of the play types in PEL0094 are shown in the figure below.