In a statement on Friday, the Perth-based minnow said the under-explored 30,000 square kilometre Reconnaissance Licence (RL) was about 400km south of the Angolan boarder in water depths ranging from 300-3000m.

Pancontinental chief executive Andrew Svalbe said the permit was located on trend with the proven Angolan oil province and was in the region of the Kudu gas field.

“Following a regional technical review by the company of the entire offshore Namibian area, essential geological elements of an oil and gas petroleum system appear to be present in the granted RL area,” Svalbe said.

“The offshore Namibia region contains the significant Kudu gas discovery, which demonstrates the presence of an active petroleum system in this under-explored region.”

Under the licence terms, the company has agreed over the next two years to undertake further technical studies over existing seismic and well data to determine prospects and leads.

After this time, Pancontinental can then elect whether to enter an agreement to undertake further exploration in this area.

“Although still a frontier area, the company believes that with additional work, an impressive inventory of prospects can be added in the future,” Svalbe said.

Other companies operating offshore Namibia include BHP Billiton, Hunt, Tullow Energy and Energy Africa.