Woodside Bows Out of PCL's PEL 87 Project in Namabia
- StockSurge Team
- Mar 19
- 2 min read
Pancontinental Energy (ASX: PCL) has announced that Woodside Energy has decided against exercising its option to farm-in on the PEL 87 project, a decision made prior to the option's expiration date of May 18, 2025.
While the decision has shifted the landscape of the venture, it has also opened up a window of opportunity for other potential investors who are looking to make their mark in offshore exploration. Currently, the joint venture participants remain Pancontinental Orange Pty Ltd, Custos Investments (Pty) Ltd with a 15% stake, and NAMCOR (National Oil Company of Namibia) holding the majority 75% share.
Pancontinental states that it has already prepared for this possibility by initiating a process to find an alternative farm-in partner with some initial interest from other potential parties.
The PEL 87 project is strategically significant, lying adjacent and on trend to the Mopane discovery, which has reaffirmed the potential of the region. Though the absence of Woodside's involvement could be perceived as a setback, it also underscores the exclusivity of PEL 87 as one of the few permits not held by a major oil and gas company.
Moreover, Pancontinental draws confidence from a high-quality 3D seismic dataset covering 6,593 km². This dataset was fully funded by Woodside and is a comprehensive study that PCL can use to attract future investors.
In a separate announcement today, Pancontinental disclosed its estimates of prospective resources for PEL 87, bringing additional optimism about the untapped hydrocarbon potential.
In addition to the previously reported Oryx and Hyrax targets, six further intra-Saturn Complex leads are identified and being advanced. All leads exhibit Class II AVO anomalies, consistent with major discoveries on-trend to the south at the Mopane Complex and Venus/Mangetti.
Total High Case prospective resource was estimated at 3.8 Billion barrels of oil (net to PCL). Total High Case oil-in-place resource estimated at 12.7 Billion barrels of oil (net to PCL). These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development.
The project's proximity to successful operations, such as the one reported by Galp Energia in the neighboring Mopane-3X exploration well, continue to provide some investors with optimism that PCL may be able to forge new strategic alliances for exploration and development of PEL 87.
