Shares of Portuguese integrated energy operator Galp Energia OTCPKGLPEF OTCPKGLPEY have popped more than 20% in Monday’s early trading session after the company announced that the first phase of its exploration in the Mopane field in offshore Namibia could contain at least 10B barrels of oil. Galp says it conducted testing operations at the Mopane-1X well in January and the Mopane-2X well in March, with, 'significant light oil columns discovered in high-quality reservoir sands.
The Mopane discovery--one the largest made in the nascent basin following successful exploration campaigns by rivals TotalEnergies and Shell--could help kickstart the southern African country’s oil industry. In recent years, Namibia has attracted huge interest from international oil companies seeking to grow their production as demand. Despite the ongoing clean energy transition, most energy analysts have predicted that oil demand will continue growing for years, if not decades. The U.S.