LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - More than 12 oil companies,

including Exxon, Shell and Brazil's national oil company, have

expressed interest in buying a 40% stake in Galp Energia's

major oil discovery offshore Namibia, sources close to

the sale process said.

Galp's Mopane discovery, which is estimated to hold at least

10 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent, could be valued at

over $10 billion, according to some estimates.

In April, Galp launched the sale process for half of its 80%

stake in Petroleum Exploration Licence 83 (PEL 83) as well as

the right to become its operator.

Over a dozen companies including Exxon Mobil ( XOM ),

Chevron ( CVX ), Shell, TotalEnergies,

Brazil's Petrobras, Australia's Woodside Energy ( WDS )

and U.S. producer Apache Energy have signed agreements

to access geological data of the field, four sources said.

A number of companies also placed indicative, non-binding

offers for the stake late last month, they said.

The identities of the bidders and their offers were unclear.

Most firms were expected to offer an upfront cash payment to

Galp and to cover the Lisbon-listed firm's share in the field's

development, the sources said.

A decision on the development of the field is contingent on

further exploration and appraisal work, they added.

Galp, Chevron ( CVX ), Shell, TotalEnergies and Apache declined to

comment. Exxon, Woodside did not immediately respond to requests

for comment.

Petrobras declined to comment on the bidding process but

said it was "evaluating opportunities to expand oil reserves,

including offshore of Africa."

Namibia's national oil and gas company Namcor, which runs

the petroleum data centre on behalf of the government, declined

to comment.

Namibia, which has no oil and gas production, has attracted

huge interest from international energy companies in recent

years following a string of discoveries by TotalEnergies, Shell

and Galp.

No company has decided to go ahead yet with a field

development, although TotalEnergies said it expects to make a

decision by the end of the year.

The strong interest in developing a new basin highlights the

sector's expectations for oil and gas demand to remain strong

for years even as the world seeks to reduce its dependency on

fossil fuels.