With the completion of the transaction, Azule Energy now officially holds a 42.5 percent participating interest in Block 2914A, located in Namibia's Orange basin, where numerous hydrocarbon discoveries have been made since 2022.
The contracting group now consists of Rhino Resources Namibia, Ltd. (Operator, 42.5 percent) Azule Energy Exploration Angola (KB) Ltd. (42.5 percent), Namcor Exploration and Production (Proprietary) Limited (10 percent) and Korres Investments (Pty) Ltd (5 percent).
In a statement sent to VerAngola, Azule Energy states that it has the option of becoming an operator for the development phase. The drilling plan for the two high-impact wells is maintained, with the drilling of the first well scheduled for this week.
"We are grateful for the support from the Namibian authorities and our partners Rhino, Namcor and Korres that enabled us to achieve this goal. Azule Energy is fully committed to leveraging all of its experience to safely and reliably unlock the potential of hydrocarbons and add value for all stakeholders in the Republic of Namibia," said Azule Energy CEO Adriano Mongini.
Travis Smithard, CEO of Rhino, stated that the company is "delighted" to have received the necessary approvals to complete the transaction, which he considered transformative and strategic.
"This is another important milestone in Rhino's organic growth strategy, which sees the company leveraging our exploration expertise in conjunction with Azule's rapid development capabilities to increase value creation for all stakeholders," he added.
It is worth remembering that Azule Energy is an independent joint venture (50/50) officially established on August 1, 2022, combining the businesses of bp and Eni in Angola. With its establishment, it became the largest independent oil and gas producer in Angola, holding resources of 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent and increasing its own production to around 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day over the next four years.
It has interests in 18 licenses, a stake in Angola LNG Limited and is the Operator of the New Gas Consortium. Azule Energy is also a shareholder in Solenova, a solar energy company jointly owned by Sonangol, and is collaborating with the Luanda Refinery.