By: OrePulse

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas has completed the transfer of a 60% interest in three Namibian offshore exploration licenses to bp, the company said, after Namibia's minister of industries, mines and energy signed off on documents that completed the transfer and renewed the licenses on November 9.

The licenses involved are PEL 97 (Block 2012A), PEL 99 (Blocks 2111B and 2211A) and PEL 100 (Blocks 2211B and 2311A). Eco Atlantic confirmed the transfer had closed on November 10.

The buyer is BP Namibia Energy, a bp subsidiary, which becomes the operator of the three licenses. BP is due to pay a one-time fee of $2.7 million on November 16, Eco Atlantic said.

Each license is now split differently among the partners: bp holds 60%, Eco Atlantic 25%, Namibia's state-owned NAMCOR 10%, and a local partner retains the remaining 5%. For the rest of the current exploration phase, bp has agreed to carry Eco Atlantic's 25% stake, along with Eco Atlantic's proportional share of the interests held by NAMCOR and the local partner.

Eco Atlantic also holds an option to transfer a further 10% interest to bp, should the partners move into a second renewal period in 2028 and commit to drilling a well on the licenses. If that option is exercised, BP would carry the remaining 15% in full, up to a cap of $21 million per well on each license, or $63 million in total across the three licenses. Eco Atlantic could instead choose to retain a 25% stake rather than exercise the option, the company said.

Under the approved work program, the partners plan to reprocess existing seismic data on PEL 97 and acquire new 3D seismic covering at least 3,000 square kilometers of PEL 99 and PEL 100, with surveying due to start in the coming weeks.

The transaction has received conditional acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange, where Eco Atlantic is listed, and is pending final approval from the exchange, the company said.

Eco Atlantic and bp first agreed on the farm-down in April 2026, with the deal closing this month after Namibian authorities completed their review and signed off on the transfer.

The three licenses lie in Namibia's offshore Walvis Basin, an area that has drawn interest from a number of international oil companies in recent exploration rounds along the country's coastline. With the transfer completed, bp becomes an operator in the basin, joining other international companies that hold exploration interests in Namibia's offshore acreage.

Eco Atlantic retains a non-operated stake across all three licenses following the transfer, alongside NAMCOR and the local partner, with its share carried by bp for the remainder of the current exploration phase.