Grand Gulf Energy has entered into a binding Option Agreement, providing Grand Gulf with an exclusive option to acquire 100% of Wrangel Pty Ltd (Wrangel). Wrangel is an applicant for a 70% working interest (WI) in a Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) over Block 2312 in the Walvis Basin, offshore Namibia.

The application is in partnership with Namibian-based oil and gas company TSE Oil and Gas (Pty) Ltd (TSE) (20% WI) and the state-owned National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) (10% WI).

Under the terms of the agreement, consideration is only payable upon the successful granting of the PEL, offering Grand Gulf a low-cost entry into one of the world’s most prospective frontier basins.

Offshore Namibia has seen a series of recent significant oil discoveries resulting in over 11 billion barrels of oil discovered to date with global oil and gas super-majors such as Shell, Chevron, TotalEnergies and GALP all active in the area, with 7 wells scheduled to be drilled in calendar 2025.

The groundbreaking Graff-1 oil well drilled offshore Namibia by Shell in 2022 catapulted Namibia to the forefront of global oil exploration. 

Shortly after the Graff discovery, TotalEnergies reported an even larger multi-billion barrel discovery with their Venus-1 well and GALP followed in 2023 with the Mopane-1X oil and condensate discovery. All these discoveries have now been appraised and tested. 

By early 2025, after drilling 17 exploration wells and 6 appraisal wells, the overall success rate in the Orange Basin since 2022, is greater than 80%. Grand Gulf’s entry into Block 2312 offers material exposure to this emerging petroleum province. 

Block 2312 – Offshore Namibia

In 2016, previous operator AIM-listed Chariot Limited, completed a 3D seismic survey covering approx 2,600km², targeting leads identified from approximately 1,700km of 2D seismic data acquired in 2015. This modern dataset was processed alongside 3,500km² of legacy 3D seismic data, using depth migration and inversion techniques calibrated to the nearby Wingat-1 and Murombe-1 wells.

The integrated 6,100km² 3D seismic dataset enabled Chariot to map multiple dip-closed structural prospects, targeting Upper Cretaceous deepwater turbidite reservoirs — the same high-quality reservoir intervals encountered in the Murombe-1 well. These prospects are interpreted to have received hydrocarbon charge from Aptian-aged marine source rocks, which have been confirmed as excellent quality in both Wingat-1 and Murombe-1.

Wingat-1, drilled by HRT Participações em Petróleo S.A. in 2013, identified two well-developed source rocks (rich in organic carbon within the oil-generating window) and several thin-bedded-sandy reservoirs saturated with oil (see Figure 1). Oil samples indicated the presence of light oil (38 to 42 API), with minimal contamination. No water-bearing zones were identified in the drilled section.

An independent audit by Netherland Sewell and Associates Inc. (NSAI) — a globally recognised authority in petroleum resource evaluation — estimated the gross mean prospective resources associated with these prospects, as of 5 June 2017, for Chariot Limited.

Block 2312 covers an area of 16,800km² in water depths ranging from 1,400m to 2,000m and lies to the south of the Murombe-1 and Wingat-1 wells, which were instrumental in establishing the prospectivity of offshore Namibia. There is a total of approximately 6,100 km² of 3D seismic in the north of the block and 4,700 line kilometres of 2D seismic with an average line spacing of 8-10km.

The only well drilled in Block 2312 tested Prospect S, encountering high-quality reservoirs with clear seismic signatures. The well, drilled in 2018 at a cost of only US$16 million, is located on the edge of an area of mature Aptian source rocks, however the dominant hydrocarbon migration direction has been established as northeasterly (where maturity will likely improve) suggesting the absence of a migration pathway from the source rock to the reservoir at Prospect S. 

Data collected from the Prospect S well has significantly upgraded exploration targets to the northeast, such as Prospect B, along with targets which have access to the outboard oil kitchen such as Prospects W and V.

Grand Gulf has undertaken a comprehensive technical review of all available data which has confirmed the prospectivity of Block 2312. Technical work going forward will include a focused re-evaluation of the seismic characteristics of the Prospect S reservoir and nearby features, aimed at assessing the ability of seismic attributes to reliably predict hydrocarbon presence across the block’s most prospective targets.

Appointment of Havoc Services as Technical Advisors

Grand Gulf has appointed Havoc Services, a subsidiary of Havoc Partners LLP, as its corporate and technical advisor to assist in the assessment of the Block 2312 opportunity. Havoc will also support the Company in the identification and evaluation of additional frontier basin opportunities globally