EL7.AI
CommoditiesMedium•10 November 2026•
4 min read

QatarEnergy to Acquire 25% Stake in Offshore Exploration Licence off Namibia

Key Facts

1QatarEnergy will hold 25% of PEL 82, while Chevron will retain a 55% stake and operate the licence, and NAMCOR and Custos will each own 10% after completion.
2The licence covers blocks 2112B and 2212A in the Walvis Basin off Namibia.
3Existing seismic data cover about 70% of the licence area, and previous drilling included the Wingat-1 and Murombe-1 wells.
4The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals, and Saad al-Kaabi said it expands and diversifies QatarEnergy’s presence in Namibia.

QatarEnergy announced on 9 November 2026 an agreement to acquire a 25% stake in offshore exploration licence PEL 82 off Namibia, in a deal it said would expand and diversify its presence in the country. According to a Custos Energy statement published via Business Wire, Chevron will retain operatorship of the licence upon completion, with its stake falling from 80% to 55%. QatarEnergy will hold 25%, while Namibia’s national oil company NAMCOR and Custos will each retain a 10% stake. Saad al-Kaabi, QatarEnergy’s chief executive, said the agreement strengthens the company’s relationship with Chevron. He added that it expands and diversifies its presence in Namibia, where it already has interests in other offshore licences.

PEL 82 covers blocks 2112B and 2212A in the Walvis Basin off Namibia, according to Custos’s statement. The announced stake distribution means Chevron will remain the largest stakeholder and operator after completion, with QatarEnergy joining as a partner with a quarter of the licence. The 10% stakes held by NAMCOR and Custos will remain unchanged. An agreement announced on 29 April 2024 gave Chevron an 80% operating stake in the licence, while the two Namibian companies each retained a 10% carried interest. The new agreement therefore sets out a transfer of a stake from Chevron to QatarEnergy, while the local partner and international operator retain their roles.

Completion remains subject to customary regulatory approvals, QatarEnergy said; the statement did not specify a completion date. Al-Kaabi said the agreement strengthens ties with Chevron, placing the two companies in partnership in the licence while Chevron continues as operator. Custos did not disclose the consideration payable to Chevron. The absence of a deal value leaves the cash investment undisclosed, while the published details are limited to QatarEnergy’s new stake and the ownership structure after completion. Approvals remain the next announced step before the new stake distribution takes effect.

Licence data point to previous exploration work in the area. Existing seismic data cover about 70% of the licence area, according to Custos, while previous drilling included the Wingat-1 and Murombe-1 wells. These details define the exploration information available for PEL 82, without the statement giving results for the two wells or an estimate of the licence’s resources. The deal itself also does not announce a new discovery or a change in the licence’s exploration status. The activities cited by Al-Kaabi remain tied to progress in the area after regulatory requirements are completed.

The PEL 82 stake will add to QatarEnergy’s 27.5% stake in PEL 90 in the Orange Basin, following completion of the Equinor deal announced in August 2026. Partners in that licence include Chevron, whose stake fell to 35.1% from 52.5%, as well as Trago Energy and NAMCOR, each with 10%. Estimates circulating for the Orange Basin refer to discoveries of about 11 billion barrels of light oil and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to The National. These are general estimates for discoveries in the basin, not declared reserves for PEL 82. The agreement therefore adds a new stake to QatarEnergy’s portfolio in Namibia without specifying the resources of the licence itself.

The National cites an estimate by the US International Trade Administration that Namibia’s discoveries could raise the country’s gross domestic product to more than double its current level by 2040 if they prove commercially viable. That possibility depends on commercial viability and is neither a confirmed outcome nor an estimate specific to PEL 82. For the deal, QatarEnergy did not announce a regulatory approval date or details of the next drilling programme. Al-Kaabi said the company looks forward to continuing exploration activities in the area, pointing to the next operational step after approvals are completed. The licence’s progress therefore remains tied to the completion process and subsequent exploration activity.