Azule Energy and partners plan to fast-track production from Namibian oil discovery

Namibia, one of the world’s most significant oil frontiers but not currently a producer, hopes that offshore oilfield development by energy majors will soon start to generate oil revenue.

Azule Energy, a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between oil and gas giants BP (UK) and Eni (Italy), is fast-tracking its oil operations in Namibia’s Orange Basin as it competes with other companies including France’s TotalEnergies to be among the first to produce Namibian crude, Bloomberg reported on August 14.

Since 2022, the Orange Basin has become a major frontier for offshore oil exploration. It has seen multiple oil discoveries, including Graff-1X and Jonker-1X (Shell, PEL39) Venus-1X (TotalEnergies, Block 2913B), Lesedi-1X (Chevron, PEL90), and Mopane-1X (Galp, PEL83), collectively accounting for over 11bn barrels of oil.

Last year, Azule negotiated a 42.5% stake in Petroleum Exploration Licence 85 (PEL85), which covers Block 2914A, from operator Rhino Resources, an Africa-focused private oil and gas exploration company. In April 2025, the partners announced oil discovery at the Capricornus-1X well.

Rhino, through its subsidiary Rhino Resources Namibia, now holds a 42.5% interest and operatorship in PEL85. Other partners are Namibia’s state oil company NAMCOR with 10%, and Namibian private investor Korres with a 5% stake.

Established in 2022 in Angola, Azule has the option to take over operatorship from Rhino Resources during the development phase. Azule Energy CEO Adriano Mangini told Bloomberg in an interview in Windhoek that discussions were ongoing. “We are moving in a productive way, in a full collaboration way,” he said.

According to Mangini, a final investment decision (FID) on the project by the end of next year would be “challenging but possible”, potentially paving the way for production to start by 2029.

That would align the timing with potential development plans by TotalEnergies. However, not all exploration has been successful. In January 2025, Chevron announced a dry well, and Shell downgraded its oil discoveries offshore Namibia as uncommercial because of high gas content, dampening early optimism.

Nevertheless, Mangini expressed confidence in Azule and its partners’ find, noting that they had already begun examining Capricornus with a view to development. “We’re ready to stay in Namibia for many years because we know what we already have,” he was quoted by the news agency as saying.

On July 31, Rhino Resources announced the spudding of Volans-1X, the third consecutive well in its operated programme on PEL 85.

“This deep-water well, in water depth of circa 1,200 metres, is expected to take around 55 days to drill and represents a strategic step in deepening the understanding of the highly prospective PEL 85, following the recent discoveries at Sagittarius-1X and Capricornus-1X,” the Cape Town-based explorer said in a statement.

According to Bloomberg, Rhino Resources CEO Travis Smithard said last week that the company had an “ambition” to become the first oil producer in Namibia.