Exploration History

The initial offshore exploration phase took place from the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s and one well was drilled during this time, Kudu 9A-1, which was the discovery well for the giant Kudu gas field. No further exploration for hydrocarbons was done by international operators until after Namibia became independent in 1990. In 1987-1988 Swakor, the predecessor company of the present National Oil Company, NAMCOR, drilled a further 2 wells in the Kudu field. The Kudu-2 well was not tested but Kudu-3 proved the existence of a major gas field. The proven hydrocarbons were an asset in Namibia’s first licensing round.

The first exploration licensing round was held in 1991-1992 with five licenses being awarded at this time, the operators of these being Norsk Hydro, Ranger, Sasol, Chevron and Shell. The second round in 1995 resulted in 2 new licences being awarded, both to Shell. One of these was an extension to the existing license that Shell had over the Kudu field. As a result of these licence awards over 28,000 km of 2-d seismic was acquired in addition to the 60,000 km of multi-client data, which is available. The Third Licensing Round in 1998-99 resulted in no applications being received, partly because of the low oil price at the time as well as the numerous international company mergers that were ongoing. The mini-4th Round in 2004 eventually resulted in the award of 2 blocks to BHP-Billiton west and south of Kudu.

To date 14 wells have been drilled off shore Namibia, including 7 in the Kudu gas field. In addition data is available from DSDP and ODP wells and also academic seismic data from earlier work. The data that has resulted is a modern, comprehensive and digital set that is easily accessible. In June 2000 a license was awarded in northern Namibia to Vanco Energy. This license and the license over Kudu are the only current full exploration licenses in Namibia. In 2002 Shell withdrew from the Kudu Block and the license was taken over by the then partners, ChevronTexaco and Energy Africa. Recently many other licences have been awarded for exploration both onshore and offshore Namibia. The map (give link) shows all of the current licences in Namibia.

In addition to the seismic data NAMCOR acquired 28,000 km of aeromagnetic data in 1998 covering the whole of offshore Namibia. This data set has elucidated the structural setting of the Namibian margin, especially when used in conjunction with the regional and high-resolution data from onshore Namibia.

Offshore:

Year	Description of Activity
1968 - 1973	Most offshore held under concession   - 50,000 line kilometres acquired   - 1972 Onshore Toscanini well TD 1736 m
1973 - 1974	Chevron (with Regent and Soekor)   - drilled Kudu 9A-1   - TD 4452m, potentially commercial gas discovery
1985	850 km seismic aquired in Kudu area
1987	Swakor drilled Kudu 9A-2 (TD 4567 m). The well was not tested
1988	Swakor drilled Kudu 9A-3 (TD 4440 m). Tested 38 MMscf/d gas
1989	1080 km seismic aquired in Kudu area 10,000 km seismic over whole Namibian offshore acquired by ECL/HGS
1991	3773 km seismic over Namibe and Walvis Basins acquired by ECL/HGS First Licencing Round
1995	Second Licencing Round
1999	Third Licencing Round
2000	Licence award to Vanco in Open Licensing System

Wells drilled:

– Now 14 in total offshore Namibia (including 7 in the Kudu gas field)
– Kudu-4 confirmed Kudu 9A-3
– 2814/11-4 confirmed Kudu-4 and extension of the field to the East
– Present upside of the Kudu gas field 8-9 tcf of dry, sweet gas

Onshore:

Nama Basin
1928	The first onshore well was drilled at Berseba: TD 1009 m reported gas blow
1960’s	360 km seismic
1963	Artnell drilled Vreda 28-1 to 1840 m
1971	Elf drilled Tses-1 to 2225 m Both wells were fully cored
1970’s	36 coal exploration wells were drilled
1980’s	No work in Namibia Masetlheng Pan-1 well drilled in Botswana to 4016 m
1990’s	Research on petroleum potential of basin
2005	Award of exploration licence to INA; currently planning seismic acquisition
Owambo (Etosha) Basin
1959 - 1994	The Owambo Basin was held under concession by Etosha Petroleum: - ST-1 drilled in 1964 to 1890 m - Further wells 1-1, 2-1, 5-1A - OPIC held concession under an option and acquired more seismic data - - - Drilled OPO-1 in 1991 to 700 m
2004	Award of exploration licence to First Africa Oil, subsequently to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Circle Oil