Galp and its partners NAMCOR and Custos has drilled and logged the first exploration well (Mopane-1X) in block PEL83, offshore Namibia. Mopane-1X which is located at the southern end of PEL 83 is merely 30km away from Shell’s unsuccessful, high-risk Cullinan-1X probe. Shell has previously announced in its September last year report that Cullinan probe is commercially unviable oil and gas discovery.

But building on the previous announcement dated January 2, Galp has now confirmed the discovery of a significant column of light oil in reservoir-bearing sands of high quality and that company will continue to analyse the acquired data and anticipates performing a Drill Stem Test (DST) in the coming weeks to assess the commerciality of this discovery.

“The drilling operations at Mopane-1X will proceed to explore deeper targets. Upon completion, the rig will be relocated to the Mopane-2X location to further evaluate the extent of the Mopane discovery.

“Drilling and data acquisition campaigns are underway, making any conclusion premature before operations are completed and results assessed,” the company’s report said.

Galp hired  Hercules drillship  to drill two wells plus an optional test well under a 115-day contract with SFL Corporation.

The Portuguese energy corporation is the operator of PEL 83 and holds 80% stake in the block while the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia and Custos have a 10% stake in PEL 83 respectively.