Shell Plc and its partners discovered light crude at an exploration well offshore Namibia, bolstering the southwest African nation’s status as one of the world’s most watched oil frontiers after previous drilling setbacks in the same block.
The Merlin-1X well delivered the “most promising subsurface results to date” within Petroleum Exploration License 0039, according to statements from Shell and its partner QatarEnergy. Crucially, the well hit high-quality reservoirs containing light oil with only limited associated gas—a composition that drastically simplifies production logistics compared to the high-gas volumes that plagued earlier local discoveries.
The find injects fresh momentum into Namibia’s emerging Orange Basin, a deepwater play that has sparked a modern-day gold rush among international majors. The exploration success follows a painful $400 million write-down that London-headquartered Shell took on the exact same license block in January 2025 after earlier appraisal work failed to meet commercial expectations.
“These are encouraging results that add to our understanding of the Orange Basin potential,” Eugene Okpere, Shell’s Executive Vice President for Exploration, Strategy, and Portfolio, said in a statement. “We are progressing this opportunity through a disciplined, data-led approach to establish commerciality.”
The joint venture, operated by Shell alongside QatarEnergy and Namibia’s state-owned oil firm Namcor, began drilling the Merlin-1X well on April 8 using Northern Ocean Ltd.’s Deepsea Mira semi-submersible rig. The asset penetrated the Coniacian geological formation in roughly 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) of water.
While Namibia has yet to produce its first commercial barrel of crude, a string of massive discoveries by TotalEnergies SE and Galp Energia SGPS SA have turned the country into a global exploration hotspot. TotalEnergies is currently aiming to make a final investment decision on its multi-billion-barrel Venus project by the end of 2026.
For state-owned QatarEnergy, which holds a 45% stake in the license alongside Shell’s 45% and Namcor’s 10%, the find aligns with an aggressive push to anchor its global footprint outside of Middle Eastern natural gas.
“These results represent a significant step that further strengthens confidence in the Orange Basin as an emerging world-class hydrocarbon province,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and CEO of QatarEnergy.
The partners are currently reviewing technical data from the Merlin well and are weighing plans for a broader exploratory appraisal drilling campaign later in 2026 to officially confirm the field’s commercial scale.
