The policy will ensure local collaboration. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

The National Upstream Local Content Policy now stands official post approval by the government of Namibia 

As Namibia continues to give international-scale discoveries since the last few years, this new policy will be put into place to navigate the high-risk investment zone it is turning into. The region's rapid upstream growth have also triggered its digital advancement with companies such as Baker Hughes and Halliburton entering the market. 

Prioritising local content

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the policy will serve in alignment with the country's broader development frameworks, such as the National Development Plan, Harambee Prosperity Plan and Vision 2030, to realise the goal of an industrialised economy that is primarily led by local expertise and resources. 

While ensuring regulatory flexibility for investors, the new policy also mandates operators to submit extensive 'Local Content Plans' in their proposal for exploration and production license acquisition. This implies clarifying the operators' collaboration plans with indigenous workforces and services. 

The contract is expected to start in Q3 2025. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

The Norve jack-up rig is gearing up for action in West Africa as Borr Drilling Limited announced a new, US$58mn contract with a returning customer

Anticipated to take around 320 days, the contract scope includes five wells firm, with an additional five optional wells at mutually agreed prices.

Currently operating for Marathon Oil

The contract is expected to start in Q3 2025, following the completion of the premium rig's current operations for Marathon Oil. 

Marathon Oil's operations, which are in line with the government's Gas Mega Hub initiative in Equatorial Guinea, is also supported by Petrofac under a master service agreement. 

The phase out of cuts shift from 12 months to 18 months. (Image source: Rystad Energy)

OPEC+ members have extended the voluntary adjustments of 1.65 million bpd announced in April 2023 until the end of December 2026

The organisation has extended the additional voluntary adjustments of 2.2 million bpd announced in November 2023 until the end of March 2025, with shifting the phase out from September  2025 to September 2026
New compensation schedules for overproducing countries will be submitted by the end of December 2024. 

“Oil markets have been anxiously awaiting this OPEC+ meeting since the US election results made clear a Trump 2.0 presidency was on the horizon. Trump’s tariff-forward stance toward China and persisting weak demand provided the group with all of the encouragement needed to extend production cuts until the first quarter of 2025. The overall signal to the market is constructive and will likely prevent any price downsides in the short term. The announcement makes crystal clear that the group is worried about both a potential supply glut and a lack of compliance with production targets among member countries,” said Mukesh Sahdev, global head of commodity markets, Rystad Energy.

Addressing supply glut

The latest OPEC+ announcement hints that compliance among members is a concern. The organisation, however, has maintained that monthly changes can be paused or reversed at any time.

With the latest announcement, the production profile and oil balances clearly indicate an acknowledgment of the emerging supply glut without the extension in 2025.

The phase out of cuts shift from 12 months to 18 months is constructive for the crude balances for 2025, with a swing from average 0.7 million bpd surplus to average 0.3 million bpd deficit.

The confirmation that the UAE’s new baseline (300,000 bpd higher) will only start in April 2025 and will be gradually phased in over an 18-month period establishes the country's firm commitment towards OPEC+.

Rystad believes that the non-OPEC+ supply hasn't posed much of a concern for OPEC+.

The Deepsea Bollsta rig has been released post work completion. (Image source: Springfield E&P)

The Afina discovery offshore Ghana confirmed good reservoir productivity from Cenomanian sandstones, and the presence of gas/condensate from Turonian reservoir

The results followed an appraisal well test activity by re-entry, as reported by Ghanaian company Springfield Exploration and Production Limited and its partners, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and GNPC EXPLORCO. 

A drill stem test (DST) on the Cenomanian sandstone gave way to a maximum flow rate of 4500 barrels of oil per day confirming good reservoir productivity on the upper end of pre-test expectations, while indicating an estimated flow rate potential of up to 12,000 boepd from a mini-DST conducted on the Turonian sandstone.

Pressure transient analysis from this reservoir showed the pressures consistent with that collected in 2019, when the 1030m-deep Afina-1x was drilled to a total water depth of 4085 metres. 

Northern Ocean Limited-operated Deepsea Bollsta rig that was deployed for the campaign has been released post work completion. 

Considering well completion options

“We are extremely happy with the results of the appraisal programme which has further confirmed our understanding of our geological, geophysical, reservoir models and demonstrated our operational capacity. Afina-1x is a vertical well, we are confident that a horizontal well or other well completion options that maximise reservoir exposure in the fields would deliver much higher production rates. This provides an incredible platform for reaffirming commercial development options for the Cenomanian and Turonian reservoirs," said Kevin Okyere, chief executive officer of Springfield.