ReconAfrica has commenced drilling a horizontal sidetrack at its Kavango West 1X (KW1X) well in Namibia's Kavango Basin, following receipt of final regulatory approvals. The operation marks a technically significant step for the company's onshore Namibia programme, moving from vertical appraisal into a horizontal well configuration designed to improve formation contact and test productive potential.
To initiate the sidetrack, production casing was pulled back to a vertical depth of 2,289 metres, at which point an open-hole whipstock was set to kick off the horizontal leg. Drilling of the sidetrack is scheduled to take approximately one month. The well design targets formations identified during earlier vertical drilling at the KW1X location, though the article does not specify reservoir intervals or projected lateral lengths.
The Kavango Basin is a large sedimentary basin straddling Namibia and Botswana. ReconAfrica holds exploration rights in the Namibian portion and has been conducting a multi-well campaign to establish the basin's hydrocarbon prospectivity. The move to a horizontal sidetrack at KW1X suggests the company is seeking to characterise flow potential more precisely before committing to further appraisal or development decisions. Regulatory approval for the sidetrack, which was required before operations could begin, has now been granted by Namibian authorities.
For the broader Namibian upstream landscape, KW1X is an onshore frontier play distinct from the high-profile deepwater Orange Basin discoveries that have drawn international attention. ReconAfrica's horizontal sidetrack programme represents a lower-profile but technically meaningful data point for onshore Namibia's resource potential. Results from this one-month operation are expected to inform the company's next steps in the basin.