Move over West Texas.
A new Permian basin has been identified in the small southern African country of Namibia and ReconAfrica (TSXV: RECO), a new exploration company, is reaping the benefits. The company is publicly traded on the Canadian Venture Exchange.
After the Namibian government completed a high quality airborne magnetic survey around eight years ago, ReconAfrica swooped in, acquired the survey and found potential for an incredible opportunity for oil exploration. “We knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” ReconAfrica CEO Jay Park told Impact Wealth. “We were very fortunate to acquire the data before our competitors, and we were able to work with the government there to situate ourselves as leaders in the region.” ReconAfrica immediately secured the drilling rights to an undiscovered, 30,000’ sedimentary basin in northern Namibia.
There are several major oil companies are currently drilling offshore in Namibia, including big players like Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil. Due to savvy recognizance ReconAfrica is the only positioned to drill onshore. The play should prove highly profitable, as it is estimated that Namibia holds as much oil as the pre-salt fields in offshore Brazil— which have 16 billion barrels of crude reserves in both conventional and unconventional plays. (The geological structures that created fossil fuel in both Brazil and Namibia are both driven by the continents of South America and Africa separating roughly 165 million years ago.)
ReconAfrica narrowed down their interest in Namibian oil exploration to a northeast region called the Kavango Basin, locking down the drilling rights to the entire 6.3 million acre region. ReconAfrica holds a 90% working interest in the Kavango Basin petroleum licenses and the Namibian government holds the other 10%. “The main comparables for sedimentary basins with this depth and thickness are the Gulf of Mexico, the Delaware Basin in the Permian, the big sedimentary basins of the Middle East and Russia—the biggest oil plays in the world,” continued Park.
“The Kavango is of overall Permian age, and time equivalent to the famous ‘Permian Basin’ in Texas and New Mexico, one of the world most prolific hydrocarbon producing areas in the world. While there are of course differences in specific geology between these two areas, the Permian is a time of overall global sea level rise and basin forming, leading to the deposition of organic, hydrocarbon sourcing strata.” continued Park.
ReconAfrica engaged international drilling consultancy, Seidel Technologies, to play an integral role in executing the upcoming drilling program.
Just recently, ReconAfrica purchased a 1000 horse power drilling rig for US$1.8 million from Henderson Rigs, Houston. The U.S.-made rig is currently being outfitted and will be shipped to Namibia for the first round of drilling. The company is expected to begin three well drilling campaigns this year.
“This rig is very well suited to execute ReconAfrica’s initial program of drilling, logging and coring three deep wells in the Kavango Sedimentary Basin this year,” said Park.
“With the discovery of a new 30,000’ sedimentary basin, this is a monumental step in the development of oil exploration in Namibia,” added Park. “World-wide, all sedimentary basins of this depth produce commercial hydrocarbons which puts us at the doorstep of a major breakthrough in the upstream sector. We are excited to see here our journey takes us.”
