Nabirm is an oil and gas explorer focused on projects in politically stable and technically de-risked countries. The company's main focus in the immediate term is on exploration of the conjugate margin of the offshore Namibian continental shelf and onshore basins.
The company's long-term strategy is to build a pan-African portfolio of high upside exploration licenses combined with near-term material drilling opportunities.
On 8 May 2012, the government of the Republic of Namibia (represented by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) entered into a petroleum agreement with Nabirm and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), the state oil company, granting Nabirm a 90% working interest and Namcor a 10% carried interest in Block 2113A.
In July 2012, the MME issued Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 58 for Block 2113A to Nabirm and the Joint Operating Agreement with Namcor was signed.
Block 2113A covers 5 750 square kilometres, with 3 600 square kilometres located in the offshore Walvis Basin and 2 150 square kilometres located in the onshore Huab Basin.
For the initial exploration period under the petroleum agreement, Nabirm completed the acquisition of approximately 2 275 square kilometres of offshore 2D seismic data.
Geological overview
In 2015, Nabirm completed a 2D seismic programme for Block 2113A. In the technical report interpretation, Nabirm confirmed that offshore Namibia is an oil-prone area in which the distribution of source rocks heightens the probability of working petroleum systems. Source rock type, richness, distribution and level of maturity are favourable for the generation and extraction of significant volumes of oil.
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Thus far, two wells near Block 2113A in the Walvis Basin are reported to have penetrated high quality source rocks. Additionally, a specific offshore area labelled an 'Oil Mature Fairway' by other E&P companies operating in Namibia is located approximately 60km from the western boundary of Block 2113A.
Nabirm identified six petroleum leads within the 2D seismic survey area of Block 2113A. The preliminary opinion is that the six leads identified in Block 2113A hold total prospective un-risked recovered resources of 522 million barrels of oil (MMBO).
Further investment
Nabirm is currently embarking on a 3D Controlled Source Electro Magnetics (CSEM) seismic programme with Norwegian based EMGS, prior to the commencement of drilling activity. The technology (CSEM), which is critical for the Walvis Basin's sensitive
geology, was pioneered by Norwegian oil giant Statoil. It (CSEM) is responsible for multiple discoveries in the Norway survey and will be a first for Namibian waters. Nabirm is an early adopter and was first to sign on in all of southern Africa. The technology is a standard in upstream for Brazilian and Nigerian first oil prospects. For the future Nabirm intends embarking on a full diversification of its oil and gas assets across basins and other regions in Africa. The strategy is to identify multiple high-impact prospects, acquire large initial working-interest positions in those acreages and de-risk the overall portfolio by ensuring that they are in geologically promising shallow and deep-water locations.
