QatarEnergy on Sunday announced an agreement to acquire from TotalEnergies SE additional interests in two offshore blocks on the Namibian side of the Orange Basin.

The French energy giant is making the divestments after purchasing additional stakes from a third partner in the leases earlier this year.

QatarEnergy’s purchase of 5.25 percent in block 2913B or Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 56 and 4.695 percent in block 2912 or PEL 91 will increase the state-owned energy major’s ownership to 35.25 percent and 33.025 percent respectively, QatarEnergy said in a statement online.

The transaction needs to obtain customary approvals, it said. QatarEnergy did not provide any expected completion date, nor did it disclose the price agreed with TotalEnergies.

“This agreement marks another important step in working collaboratively with our partners towards the development of the Venus discovery located on block 2913B”, said QatarEnergy president and chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also the Gulf state’s energy affairs minister.

The Venus 1X oil discovery was announced February 24, 2022. Drilling encountered about 84 meters (275.59 feet) of net oil pay “in a good quality Lower Cretaceous reservoir”, TotalEnergies said then, calling the discovery “significant”.

Earlier this year TotalEnergies bought additional stakes of 10.5 percent in 2913B and 9.39 percent in 2912 from Impact Oil and Gas Namibia (Pty.) Ltd. These have raised TotalEnergies’ ownership to 45.25 percent in 2913B and 42.5 percent in 2912.

As it stands Impact holds a 9.5 percent stake in each block. National Petroleum Corp. of Namibia owns a 10 percent stake in 2913B and 15 percent in 2912.

Blocks 2913B and 2912 sit about 300 kilometers (186.41 miles) off the coast of the Southern African country, in water depths of 2,600 to 3,800 meters (8,530.18 to 12,467.19 feet).

Discoveries on the Namibian side of the Orange Basin over the last two years amount to recoverable reserves of over 2.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to Rystad Energy.

“Discoveries in both Namibia and Guyana have seen industry players flocking to these countries to secure exploration blocks”, Rystad wrote July 10. “Following the success of majors Shell and TotalEnergies in Namibia, peers BP, Eni and Chevron are now farming into the country’s exploration blocks, with a series of wells to be drilled over the next few years, which would leave ExxonMobil as the only major not present in the basin.

“Additionally, Galp Energia’s Mopane discovery, announced earlier this year with a postulated resource potential of about 10 billion barrels of oil, has attracted industry attention, with about 12 major oil and gas companies reported to have expressed interest in acquiring 50 percent of the Portuguese operator’s 80 percent interest in the tract. Additionally, with numerous wells planned to be drilled, Namibia could be on track to replicating Guyana’s success, at least in terms of resource potential, primarily due to success of exploration across different blocks compared to Guyana, where success has been limited to Stabroek”.

TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy are also partners on the South African side of the basin.

To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com