88E seismic reveals 10 leads - prospective resource estimate due next

Our oil & gas Investment 88 Energy (ASX: 88E) just put out an update on its 2D seismic program for its onshore project in Namibia.

88E’s results are from its 2D seismic program on the project it is earning a 45% interest in.

Going into the seismic program we already knew that 88E had 10 main targets of interest.

Today’s update confirmed the 10 independent structural closures - with some of the individual leads covering ~100km^2 of ground…

At this stage its hard to know which of the targets 88E will go after first, 88E expects to have a maiden prospective resource estimate out on the project in Q1-2025.

88E expects a maiden prospective resource on the project in H1-2025.

That’s when we expect to see 88E start talking about which target will be the highest priority for a drill program.

88E has previously said a drill program would be in 2026.

Objective #4: Firm up drill target at the Namibian asset

Milestones
✅ 2D seismic program starts
✅ 2D seismic program completed
🔄 2D seismic results & interpretation
🔲 Maiden prospective resource estimate
🔲 Primary drill target selected

Source: “What we want to see 88E deliver” section - 88E Investment Memo 20 May 2024

Between now and 88E’s first drill, we will be keeping a close eye on 88E’s neighbour Recon Africa which is currently in the middle of a multi-well exploration program on its ground.

Here is where Recon is drilling relative to 88E’s ground:

The latest on Recon Africa’s drill program:

On the 27th of November Recon finished drilling its first exploration well.

In that announcement Recon mentioned results would be out in the “next several weeks” so we are expecting an announcement from them very soon with the results from that first well.

After that, Recon will be moving to their next exploration well.

Recon’s ground sits to the east of 88E’s and they are targeting (in 88E’s words) “the Damara play, which is the same play interpreted by 88 Energy and its JV partner in the PEL 93 acreage”.

While the two companies ground sit in different parts of Namibia (and likely on different geology) - from a market perspective whatever happens with Recon will likely reflect on 88E’s share price (or at least the markets interest in 88E).

IF Recon make a giant discovery then we would expect that interest to trickle down into 88E’s ground.

Recon are drilling several wells so we the potential for them to make a discovery will be around for most of 2025 and not just limited to the results of the first well due in a few weeks.

While recon drills, in the short term, the main thing we want to see is just how big 88E’s own targets are.

Check out our thoughts on the Recon drilling and how it impacts 88E here: 88E starts 2D seismic, neighbour $438M ReconAfrica's spud is any day now…

Here is why we like 88E’s Namibian asset:

• Huge ground position - ~70x the size of 88E’s Project Phoenix in the North Slope of Alaska, USA. The project is large enough to host a large resource base.
• Namibia’s fast developing oil and gas industry - recent giant discoveries offshore by TotalEnergies and Shell have put Namibia on the map. Namibia being touted as the next Guyana where US supermajors Exxon and Hess are making discovery after discovery.
• Namibian onshore peer re-rated by over 40x - ReconAfrica drilled its first well at its onshore Namibian project back in 2021. Between 2020 and 2021 Recon’s share price went from CAD$0.30 to CAD$12.50+.
• Project vendors linked to Invictus Energy (ASX: IVZ) - IVZ director Robin Sutherland is a part of the team doing the deal with 88E. Robin was also involved in EnergyAfrica, which sold to Tullow Oil for $500M in 2004 and then again with Tullow Oil as it went onto make discoveries across East Africa.
• Early stage with plenty of upside - 88E is getting in on the project at a very early stage. There is scope for 88E to run the seismic surveys, define a large prospective resource and firm up a drill program over the next 12-24 months.
• Strategically located - Sits next to one of Africa’s largest economies, South Africa, which is looking to replace its retiring coal-fired energy generation fleet.