Chevron Corp. will pay $11 million in cash to lift its participating interest in Petroleum Exploration License 90 offshore Namibia, tightening its grip on an Orange Basin block that carries a drill-ready prospect scheduled for spud before yearend.

Under the agreement, Harmattan Energy Ltd., a Chevron affiliate, will acquire the full 10% participating interest held by Trago Energy (Pty) Ltd., a subsidiary of Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd. Trago exits the license entirely, and Chevron, already operator of PEL 90, absorbs the additional equity. Custos disclosed the terms of the transaction.

The $11 million is the upfront consideration at completion. Contingent payments follow, tied to appraisal and production milestones. Custos said those milestones include revenues associated with commercial production currently estimated at 1.5-2.5 million bbl of oil, with the final figure dependent on commodity price assumptions.

The purchase rebuilds Chevron's equity position in PEL 90 after an earlier divestment. In August, Chevron agreed to transfer a 17.4% portion of its interest in the license to Equinor. The Trago acquisition partially offsets that reduction and keeps the US major firmly in the operator's chair as drilling approaches.

The near-term catalyst is Nabba-1X, a drill-ready prospect on the license slated for drilling before the end of the year. The well forms part of a broader multi-well exploration program Chevron has planned across Sub-Saharan Africa, a campaign that pairs Namibia's Orange Basin with frontier acreage elsewhere on the continent.

Nabba-1X will be Chevron's second well offshore Namibia. The first, Kapana-1X, gathered geological data but did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons — a result that makes the upcoming well a direct test of whether the operator's Orange Basin read differs from its earlier dry hole.

For Custos, the deal converts a 10% exploration stake into certain cash plus optionality. The contingent structure preserves upside exposure to any commercial success at Nabba-1X and subsequent appraisal, without requiring the privately held Namibian company to fund its share of well costs.

Namibia's Orange Basin has drawn sustained exploration interest since the basin-opening discoveries by Shell and TotalEnergies to the north, and Chevron's willingness to add equity ahead of a well signals commitment to that play fairway. The PEL 90 position sits within the same broader margin trend that has made the country one of the most watched exploration provinces of the current cycle.

Completion of the farm-out remains conditional on governmental, regulatory, and third-party approvals — standard conditions for license interest transfers in Namibia, but a gating step that determines when the $11 million moves and Chevron's enlarged interest registers.

The watch items are clear: regulatory sign-off on the Trago transfer, the spud of Nabba-1X before yearend, and the well result itself, which will shape whether Chevron's multi-well Sub-Saharan Africa program accelerates or recalibrates.