TotalEnergies (Total) has announced an oil discovery with the Venus-1X well offshore Namibia. This is the second recent oil discovery, after Shell's Graff-1 light oil discovery. Venus-1 is reported to have net pay of approximately 84 m of light oil with some associated gas in good quality reservoir.

Venus-1 was drilled to a total depth of 6,296m in a water depth of approximately 3,000m. Total's joint-venture partner Impact Oil and Gas before drilling reported an AVO anomaly coinciding with the mapped Venus structural closure over an area of 600 sq km. The Total consortium consists of TotalEnergies (40%), Qatar Petroleum (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%) and Namcor (10%).

Shell Namibia's (Shell) first-ever oil discovery offshore Namibia, Graff-1, is being followed by the appraisal well, Graff-2, approximately 8km away. The Shell consortium consists of Shell Namibia (45%), Qatar Energy (45%) and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) (10%). The two discoveries are on-trend to Pancontinental's PEL 87 licence of approximately 10,970 sq Km (269,345 acres) in water depths of 500m to 3,000m.

Pancontinental holds 75% and is Operator of PEL 87. PEL 87 holds the very large Saturn turbidite complex, sharing many prospective characteristics with the Venus Prospect. The core of Saturn covers approximately 2,400sq km, with an approximate thickness of 280m.

Water depth over Saturn, at about 800m, is significantly less than at Graff and Venus. A twelve months' extension has been given for the Initial Exploration Period of the PEL 87 Licence subject to formalising the necessary documentation (currently proceeding). The initial four-year Period can be followed by two additional two-year Periods.