88 Energy JV secures 12-month extension for Namibian onshore licence

88 Energy has secured a 12-month extension for the company’s onshore Owambo Basin petroleum exploration licence PEL93 in Namibia that will extend its first renewal exploration period through to October 2026.

During the extension period, the company must acquire an airborne gravity and magnetic survey, augmented by radiometric data, and integrate its datasets to support drill site selection.

Additionally, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required for the proposed drilling, along with a minimum gross expenditure of US$800,000 (A$1.2 million).

The company holds a 20 per cent working interest in PEL 93 in a joint venture with Monitor Exploration. In conjunction with the licence extension, the two companies have executed a variation to their existing farmout agreement that addresses the joint venture’s new commitments.

The amendment introduces a stage 1A work program, which includes a high-resolution airborne gravity, magnetic and radiometric survey. 

Other commitments include the preparation of a certified prospective resource report, identification of potential drilling locations and creation of an authority for expenditure for the proposed well. 

The stage 1A program will be jointly funded on an equal basis by 88 Energy and Monitor, subject to a cost cap of US$1 million, unless otherwise agreed.

The geophysical survey is already scheduled for the second half of the year and will focus on the southern area of PEL 93, after a priority drill location, known as Lead 9, was identified during a 2024 2-D seismic survey program. 

Lead 9 is a very large anticlinal structure, similar to ReconAfrica’s imminent Kavango West 1X well. Both structures have large, robust structural closures, shallow clastic reservoirs, a deeper Otavi carbonate reservoir seen in Naingopo-1 and deeper source rocks. 

According to Monitor, the venture’s operator, the regional structural model points to a host of similar features that extend across the southern Owambo Basin. The company says previous gravity and radiometric data indicate that even bigger structural leads may exist in the block’s southeast.

Monitor Exploration management said: “Our early results are pointing to something potentially significant in the southern area of PEL 93 in the Owambo Basin. With multiple datasets aligning and the prospect of even larger structures emerging, the joint venture is building momentum towards a drilling event and what could be a basin-opening discovery with broad implications for all of Namibia, given the significance in unlocking a major new hydrocarbon play.”

The imminent drilling of ReconAfrica’s Kavango West 1X exploration well in the adjacent Damara Fold Belt will target a large fold structure about 20 kilometres long and 5km wide.

ReconAfrica’s rig mobilisation is scheduled for mid-2025, with drilling expected to commence soon afterwards. The company expects it will pierce a thick Otavi carbonate reservoir with mature source rocks within the same closure. 

This build-up of regional activity highlights growing industry interest in the broader Owambo Basin. 

With its strategic acreage position in the Owambo Basin and a well-defined program ahead, the joint venture duo is well-situated to participate in a significant way in a what could be a transformational phase of Namibian onshore exploration and appraisal.

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