LISBON (Reuters/Web Desk) – Galp Energia – a Portuguese oil company – said on Sunday it had concluded the first phase of exploration in the Mopane field off the coast of Namibia and estimated it could have at least 10 billion barrels of oil.

Galp said it conducted testing operations at the Mopane-1X well in January and the Mopane-2X well in March. In both wells, which are eight kilometres apart, it said "significant light oil columns were discovered in high-quality reservoir sands".

The Mopane field is located in the Orange Basin, along the coast of the southern African country, where Shell and France's TotalEnergies have made several oil and gas discoveries estimated at 2.6bn barrels, setting the stage for the southern African country to plan production from about 2030.

Other firms including Chevron, Rhino Resources, Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas and Galp Energia are conducting exploration and appraisal activities.

Based on the existing discoveries, Namibia is looking at 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of peak production capacity by the next decade – a number that could rise with further successful exploration.

Galp said flows achieved during the tests reached the maximum allowed limit of 14 thousand barrels per day, potentially positioning Mopane as an important commercial discovery.

"In the Mopane complex alone, and before drilling additional exploration and appraisal wells, hydrocarbon in-place estimates are 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or higher", Galp said.

Galp holds an 80 per cent stake in Petroleum Exploration Licence 83 (PEL 83), which covers an area of almost 10,000 square kilometres in the Orange Basin.

Namibia could become a new source of revenue for Galp, which currently has strong investments off the coast of Brazil and is also present in a natural gas project in Mozambique's Rovuma basin.

Galp has previously indicated it could launch a process to attract other investors to its projects in Namibia, as they could reach a large scale.

The OPEC+ oil producers group, having lost Angola and other players in recent years, is eyeing Namibia for possible membership as it sets up what could be Africa’s fourth-largest oil output by the next decade, an African industry official told Reuters.

However, oil exploration around the world has Guyana as the biggest story. The Latin American country with a population of 800,000 currently ranks 31st among oil-producing nations but could move up to 18th place by 2027.

Earlier in February, Namibia raised its economic growth forecasts for 2023 and 2024 and lowered a budget deficit projection due mainly to strong growth in the oil and mining sectors.

The southern African country expects to see economic growth of 5.6pc for last year and 4.0pc this year, up from projections of 3.5pc and 2.9pc, respectively, made in October.