QatarEnergy buys 25% of Chevron’s PEL82, its fourth offshore license in Namibia

QatarEnergy is buying into a fourth offshore license in Namibia: The company has agreed to buy a 25% interest in Namibia’s offshore Petroleum Exploration License 0082 (PEL82) from Chevron Namibia Exploration II, a Chevron subsidiary, according to a press release. The companies didn’t disclose the price, and the agreement still needs regulatory approval.

Why it matters: PEL82 would give QatarEnergy a fourth Namibian license, and in every one of them an international major is the operator. The agreement adds to a position QatarEnergy has been building in Atlantic exploration over the past two years.

The license covers an area about the size of Qatar: PEL82 spans blocks 2112B and 2212A, around 11.4k sq km in water depths of 350-2.3k meters. Chevron will stay on as operator with 55% once the agreement completes, while state-owned Namcor E&P and Custos Energy will hold 10% each.

QatarEnergy holds stakes in three other Namibian licenses: It held 27.5% of Chevron-operated PEL90 as of August, according to Equinor, which bought into that license the same month. In 2024, QatarEnergy agreed to raise its stakes in two TotalEnergies-operated licenses to 35.25% in PEL56, home to the Venus oil discovery, and to 33.025% in PEL91.

It is building Atlantic exploration acreage in Brazil too: In October, QatarEnergy won a 30% stake in seven offshore blocks in Brazil’s Ceará Basin alongside Petrobras. The concession contracts are due to be signed in 1H 2027.

Terminal groundwork

Tenders are out for infrastructure works at King Salman International Airport. King Salman International Airport Development Company (KSIADC), the Riyadh giga-airport’s developer, has tendered the roads, bridges, and utility networks for Zone C1+C2 — the civil infrastructure underpinning the new Terminal 6 and its links to the existing Terminals 1-5, Meed reports. The tender went out on 26 October, with bids due 6 December.

The details: The package spans new roads, ramps and junctions, the Junction 6 and Terminal 6 bridges, and the full dry and wet utility networks, alongside enabling works and utility diversions. Two design-and-build elements are optional, among them a roughly 1.4-km access road to the Terminal 6 transport hub.

REMEMBER- King Salman International Airport is expected to handle over 100 mn passengers annually by 2030. The infrastructure, including the new Terminal 6, is being developed to accommodate this traffic, with capacity planned ahead of the expected influx of visitors for Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup.