LISBON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Portuguese oil company Galp GALP.LS said on Tuesday it had found significant presence of light oil and gas condensate in a fifth well in Namibia’s Mopane field, opening up new exploration opportunities that are sending its shares sharply higher.

Galp’s Mopane offshore discovery was initially estimated to hold at least 10 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent.

The company drilled four wells there in 2024 to explore and appraise a first hub in the northwest area of the Mopane complex, and a fifth well last month, this time in the field’s southeast area.

It said in a statement that the new well, Mopane-3X, 18 km (11.18 miles) away from the first, targeted two stacked prospects – AVO-10 and AVO-13 – and a deeper sand at 1,200 metre water depth.

“Preliminary data confirms light oil and significant gas condensate columns between AVO-10, and light oil columns in AVO-13 and the deeper sand, in high-quality sandstones,” it said, also pointing to high pressure and permeability as well as low oil viscosity.

Galp shares were up 7% in morning trading and leading gains on the pan-European Stoxx 600 index .STOXX.

Jefferies said in a research note that the well should de-risk the 10 billion boe resource estimate for the Mopane Complex and support the case for a multi-Floating Production Storage and Offloading development.

Galp is looking to sell half of its 80% stake in Mopane’s Petroleum Exploration Licence 83 to a player who would become its operator, although it has said it is in no rush.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Joao Vicente Mauricio; editing by David Evans)