Pancontinental Oil & Gas has been granted a petroleum exploration license for three blocks in the Walvis Basin offshore northern Namibia, the Australian company said in a statement Tuesday.
The license covers 17,295 sq km over blocks 2012B, 2112A and 2113B and gives Pancontinental exclusive rights for a first exploration period of four years, followed by two additional periods of two years each, as well as provisions for the continuation of the exclusive rights under any oil or gas development.
Pancontinental holds an 85% stake in the license area, alongside 15% partner, Namibia's Paragon Holdings. Pancontinental agreed in March this year to carry Paragon free until the start of development of any oil or gas discovery.
Offshore Namibia is attracting significant international interest as an emerging oil and gas province, with Tullow Oil already developing the large Kudu gas field and other companies actively exploring the region, according to Pancontinental. The company said it believed the significantly under-explored region has the potential for "very large" oil and gas reserves.
Offshore Namibia is the plate tectonic "conjugate" of offshore Brazil, where world-scale oil and gas discoveries have been made in recent years and lies on the West African continental margin adjacent to Angola, where there have also been major oil discoveries.
