BP, through its wholly owned subsidiary bp Namibia Energy, has entered into an agreement with Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas to acquire a 60% participating interest in each of Eco Atlantic’s three petroleum exploration licences (PELs) offshore Namibia.
This move aligns with bp’s strategy to expand its upstream portfolio.
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The blocks, identified as PEL97, PEL99 and PEL100, are located in the Walvis Basin.
Closing of the transaction is contingent upon standard closing conditions including receipt of the relevant consents from Namibian regulators and the approval of the joint venture (JV) partners.
Following this, bp will operate the three blocks.
Upon completion of the transaction, Eco, through its wholly owned subsidiaries Eco Namibia and Eco Services, will retain a 25% participating interest in each of PEL97, PEL99 and PEL100.
Under the terms of the agreement, Eco will receive a one-off cash payment of $2.7m (C$3.71m) on completion.
During the current exploration phase, bp will fund 100% of the costs attributable to Eco’s retained 25% interest and will also cover Eco’s proportionate share of the carried interests relating to NAMCOR’s 10% stake and the local partners’ 5% stakes across all three licences.
BP production and operations executive vice-president Gordon Birrell said: “Namibia is a region attracting growing industry interest and has a number of exciting frontier basins.
“This agreement marks bp’s entry into the country as an operator, strengthens bp’s exploration portfolio and provides long-term growth potential. We look forward to supporting the country in developing its resources.”
The proposed work programme includes reprocessing seismic data on PEL97 and undertaking a 3D seismic survey of at least 3,000km² across PEL99 and PEL100.
If bp and its partners enter the Second Renewal Period of the licence term in 2028 and opt to drill, Eco can choose to either transfer an additional 10% interest to bp with a capped carry-on remaining cost or retain its 25% interest.
The potential aggregate carry consideration by bp could reach up to $63m (£46.53m) should all put options be exercised across the licences, limited to $21m per option.
If Eco exercises the put option on PEL97, PEL99 and PEL100, bp’s total maximum carry exposure would be $63m, subject to a $21m cap per licence.
BP has reported two exploration successes so far this year, building on 12 discoveries recorded in 2025 and reinforcing its exploration pipeline to underpin longer-term organic growth.
It added that Azule Energy, its 50:50 JV with Eni, has confirmed four hydrocarbon finds since early 2025: the Algaita-01 well and the Gajajeira-01 gas discovery offshore Angola, along with the Volans-1X and Capricornus-1X discoveries in Namibia’s Orange Basin.
In February this year, Turan Drilling & Engineering, a JV between SOCAR AQS and Helmerich & Payne, secured the renewal of a long-term contract from bp for offshore operations and maintenance in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan.
