Custos Investments, Galp Energia and Namcor are all going to collaborate in allocating commercially viable petroleum reserves off the Namibian coast, All Africa reported.

According to New Era, The collaborating companies are going to use the knowledge generated from the prior exploration results of the drilling that was carried out by Brazilian company HRT (High Resolution Technology) and provided non-commercially viable reserves in 2013.

“Although no commercial discoveries were made, these wells provided encouraging technical information, which has led Galp to renew its commitment to pursuing exploration efforts in the country by acquiring the two new licenses,” the company noted in a public statement.

Galp purchased two new offshore blocks off the Namibian coast in 2016; the blocks are located in the Walvis Bay Basin and Orange Basin.

The interests in the blocks are held through a consortium that includes the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) and Custos Investments, each holding 10% while Galp dominates 80%. Galp has also assumed the role of the operator in the consortium.

“Initial exploration activities will include geological and geophysics studies and the acquisition of new 3D seismic surveys [in water as deep as 2500 meters), during the initial exploration period,” the company says in the statement.

The exploration activities are expected to take over a period of three to four years.

“If these efforts are successful and the consortium moves on to the subsequent exploration stages, further activities may include the drilling of exploration wells,” the company noted.