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# South Africa shut down a major oil hunt. Just across the border, Namibia is heating up.
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/equinor-namibia-orange-basin-pel-90/
- Published: 2026-08-20T03:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T03:29:59.000Z
- Description: The Norwegian company takes 17.4% of a Chevron-operated licence with a well due to be tested this year, its first position in the country.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Companies, Business Bagel News

Equinor and Harmattan Energy, a Chevron subsidiary in Namibia, signed an agreement in Windhoek on Tuesday handing the Norwegian company a 17.4% share of Petroleum Exploration Licence 90 in the Orange Basin. Beatrice Bienvenu, Chevron's country manager for Namibia, and Aynur Rzayeva, Equinor's Namibia asset manager, signed it at a ceremony there. Closing still needs regulatory approval.

## Who holds what

The licence covers Block 2813B, offshore Namibia, and Chevron operates it. Before the sale Chevron's subsidiary held 52.5%, with QatarEnergy on 27.5%, Trago Energy on 10% and the state oil company on 10%. The attraction for Equinor is timing as much as geology: the block carries a prospect ready to drill, scheduled for testing this year, and the deal is the company's first position in Namibia. Philippe Mathieu, who runs Equinor's international exploration and production, called Namibia "a promising basin that adds attractive option value to our portfolio and complements our broader Atlantic Margin position".

## Six majors, one basin

Namibia's Orange Basin has drawn TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy, Shell, BP and Eni, and Equinor makes six. The results so far have been mixed enough to keep the basin interesting rather than proven. Chevron found nothing in its first Namibian well and has another planned inside licence 90 for later this year. Shell wrote off $400m of Namibian wells after failing to find a route to commercial production, then went back in: its Merlin-1X well, spudded on 8 April 2026, delivered what was described as the most promising subsurface results to date in Shell's own licence, with good reservoir quality and light oil.

Eugene Okpere, Shell's exploration, strategy and portfolio vice-president, called those results "encouraging" and said the company was progressing the opportunity through a disciplined, data-led approach to establish commerciality. Further drilling later in 2026 is under consideration.

## The coast that closed

The move north runs alongside a door closing in South Africa. On 14 August the Constitutional Court reinstated a high court order setting aside the Wild Coast exploration right granted to Impact Africa in 2014, in which Shell later took a 50% participating interest, and shut the renewal route the Supreme Court of Appeal had left open. The high court had found the original decision and its two renewals unlawful on three independent grounds, including inadequate consultation with coastal communities.

The majority judgment held that commercial investment cannot outweigh serious constitutional violations. In dissent, Rogers J put the companies' Wild Coast spend at about R1.1bn and argued the matter should have gone back for fresh consultation instead.