TotalEnergies takes charge of Namibia's largest oil fields

The TotalEnergies-Galp partnership will bring two of Namibia's largest offshore oil discoveries, Venus and Mopane, under a single operator in the Orange Basin.

The transaction has now received the required regulatory approvals, allowing TotalEnergies to complete its acquisition of operatorship in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 83 as the company moves closer to sanctioning the Venus development.

The approvals include unconditional clearance from the Namibia Competition Commission, which found that the transaction was unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in Namibia's upstream petroleum sector despite increasing TotalEnergies' interests in offshore petroleum licences.

In a note to investors last week following the commission's decision, Cirrus Capital said the approval removed one of the final regulatory hurdles for the transaction and would allow TotalEnergies to consolidate operatorship of two of Namibia's most significant offshore oil discoveries as development planning accelerates.

The transaction means TotalEnergies will oversee the development of both Venus and Mopane, enabling the company to coordinate planning, engineering, procurement, offshore logistics and project execution across two neighbouring petroleum licences.

Although the discoveries will remain separate commercial developments with different ownership structures, the shared operatorship is expected to improve coordination as both projects move towards final investment decisions and eventual production.

Speaking during TotalEnergies' second-quarter 2026 results presentation and analyst conference call on 23 July, chairperson and chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanné confirmed that Namibia had approved the transaction while responding to a question from Morgan Stanley analyst Martijn Rats.

"On the Galp transaction related to Mopane versus Venus, we have received, end of last week, the official approval of the Ministry of Energy of Namibia, and so we are just, in fact, finalising the last paper to close the deal," Pouyanné said.

Pouyanné said contractor selection for the Venus development had been completed and discussions with the Namibian government on the project's final investment decision were nearing conclusion.

According to TotalEnergies' second-quarter 2026 results presentation, released on 23 July, the company plans to continue appraisal work on Mopane through a three-well drilling programme in 2026 and 2027 to refine the development concept ahead of a targeted final investment decision in 2028.

The company's 2025 results and 2026 objectives presentation, released on 11 February, states that the Venus discovery on PEL 56 contains approximately 750 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in resources. On PEL 83, the company estimates the initial Mopane development contains between 800 million and 1.1 billion boe in resources.

Initial development

Beyond Mopane, TotalEnergies has identified more than 1.5 billion boe of additional exploration potential on PEL 83, including the Quiver and Sobreiro prospects and the planned Mopane Extension well.

The February presentation outlines a Venus development capable of producing approximately 150 000 barrels of oil per day, with first oil targeted for 2030.

The same presentation indicates that the initial Mopane development is expected to produce more than 200 000 barrels per day, with a targeted final investment decision in 2028.

The two developments could produce about 350 000 barrels of oil per day if both projects proceed as planned.

The agreement, announced in December 2025, will see TotalEnergies acquire Galp's 40% operated interest in PEL 83 in exchange for a 10% participating interest in PEL 56 and a 9.39% participating interest in PEL 91. TotalEnergies will also carry 50% of Galp's exploration, appraisal and first-development capital expenditure on Mopane, with Galp repaying those costs from its share of future production revenues.

Once the transaction is completed, TotalEnergies will hold a 40% operated interest in PEL 83 alongside Galp (40%), Namcor (10%) and Custos (10%).

In PEL 56, the company will retain a 35.25% operated interest alongside QatarEnergy (35.25%), Galp (10%), Namcor (10%), and Impact Oil & Gas (9.5%), while in PEL 91, it will hold a 33.085% participating interest.

Single operator

The arrangement differs from those in established offshore petroleum provinces. In Guyana, for example, ExxonMobil operates the giant Liza, Payara, Yellowtail, Uaru and Whiptail discoveries, but all are located within the Stabroek Block under a single petroleum licence.

In Brazil and Angola, companies including Petrobras and TotalEnergies operate multiple offshore developments, although these are generally managed within individual concession or block structures.

Namibia's transaction is different because Venus and Mopane will remain separate petroleum licences with different ownership structures and joint venture partners, yet they will be developed under the same operator following the share swap between TotalEnergies and Galp.

Rather than merging the projects, the transaction places responsibility for planning and executing both developments under a single operator.

According to the February 2026 presentation, this will enable the company to apply its deepwater development experience across both licences by coordinating engineering, procurement, logistics, contractor management and project execution while creating operational synergies between neighbouring developments.

The company says its longer-term objective is to establish a sustainable multi-FPSO hub in Namibia that maximises efficiencies and delivers long-term value for both the country and its partners.

The path to both discoveries was laid years earlier. Local businessman Knowledge Katti was instrumental in drawing the initial investment into the Orange Basin acreage and in finalising the strategic transaction with Impact Oil & Gas that enabled TotalEnergies’ first upstream entry into Namibia, followed by QatarEnergy. The same pattern held at Mopane, where his work opened the way for Galp – and now, through this partnership, for TotalEnergies.