Woodside Drops Farm-In Plans for Namibia’s Orange Basin Block
March 17, 2025
Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy has decided not to exercise its option for the farm-in to the PEL 87 block offshore Namibia, operated by Pancontinental Energy’s subsidiary.
Pancontinental has received notification from Woodside Energy that the company has elected not to exercise its option to farm-in to the PEL 87 project.
The notice has been received in advance of the long stop date of May 18, 2025, after which Woodside's option was due to expire.
To remind, Woodside Energy entered into an agreement for an option to acquire a 56% participating interest in PEL 87 in 2023.
PEL 87 is operated Pancontinental Orange, a subsidiary of Pancontinental Energy, which holds maintains a 75% interest in the license, with partners Custos Investments, holding 15% interest and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) the remaining 10% interest.
A process is underway to secure an alternate farm-in partner to fund exploration drilling within PEL 87 at the earliest opportunity, according Sintana Energy, which has a 49% indirect interest in Custos.
Significant prospectivity has been identified by the high quality 6,593 km2 3D seismic dataset that was fully funded by Woodside.
Subsequent interpretation and evaluation has returned an inventory of intra-Saturn leads and prospects which are estimated to be consistent in size and scale to the discoveries made to date in the Orange Basin. Pancontinental, together with the joint venture partners, is continuing to mature and refine a growing inventory on PEL 87.
(Credit: Sintana Energy)
“We look forward to deploying our portfolio of relationships with operators including the supermajors to bring forward the potential of PEL 87,” said Knowledge Katti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Custos and a director of Sintana.
“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,” added Robert Bose, CEO of Sintana.
