By Madison Okoromaiye, in Capetown
The Namibian government has approved TOTALEnergies’ deal to secure a 40% and operatorship of Galp Energia’s sprawling Mopane accumulation in the Orange basin.
The transaction is tied to Galp Energia accessing a 10% stake in TOTAL’s large Venus development.
Finalising these two -deals -in-one provides a clearer line of sight for TOTAL to take a Final Investment Decision (FID) on Venus, but the latter is still a work in progress.
Jean Pierre Sbraire, TOTAL’s Chief Financial Officer, said at the earnings call on July 2023, 2026 that the company had received the official approval of the Ministry of Energy of Namibia at the end of the week of July 13, 2026 for the farm ins. “And so we are just, in fact, finalizing the last paper to close the deal potentially tonight (July 23, 2026) or tomorrow (July 24, 2026).
“So, that’s important, of course,” Sbraire said, “because this fact that we are going to be on both developments as operator has a strong value for us in order to engage with the FID of Venus, and I would say there are intense discussions as well, we have a joint target between the government of Namibia and the consortium to sanction it by end of July.
“There are discussions progressing, we’ll see if we can conclude in July or if we need to have a little more time.
“Technically, I think we have selected all contractors, so we are ready to take the FID subject to finalizing discussions with the government of Namibia”.
July 2026 timeline for Venus is not cast in stone.
“There have been some progress, but there’s still some progress to be done”, Sbraire noted.
“So again, generally it’s when the last minute you can conclude, but we’ll see if we can do it.
“I would say I’m reasonably optimistic that all the parties, there is a joint interest clearly, and in particular the Namibian authorities are fundamentally supportive to have a strong operator, being able to capitalize on synergies between the projects.
“I remind you that now that the Mopane has been approved and will be closed, the next step is to engage ….. to appraise Mopane.
“We have three wells in 2027, and the FID will be taken in 2028.
“So all that, as we engage in a strong momentum, and clearly for us, Namibia will begin, is becoming a very important hub for future growth, not only to 2030, but beyond 2030”.
