Namibia eyes 10.5bn bl oil bonanza

A series of oil discoveries in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia in the past 18 months could hold as much as 10.5bn bl combined, according to state-owned oil firm Namcor.

Citing a study by consultancy Wood Mackenzie, Namcor said the contingent resource figure is a pre-appraisal estimate for oil and does not include associated gas volumes. It includes 5.1bn from the Venus discovery , 2.4bn-2.6bn bl from the Graff find , 2.5bn bl from the Jonker discovery and 0.3bn bl from the recently-announced Lesedi find.

The TotalEnergies-operated Venus find is estimated to be the second-largest hydrocarbon discovery in the world since 2015. The company has said it believes Venus could be a supergiant field.

Namcor sees first oil from these discoveries by around 2029-30, slightly later than its initial 2028 forecast . This could propel Namibia into the world's top 15 oil producers by 2035, Namcor's acting managing director, Shiwana Ndeunyema, told the Namibia Oil and Gas Conference in Windhoek.

Foreign oil firms investing in Namibia's nascent upstream oil and gas sector — which include Shell and Qatar's state-owned QE, as well as TotalEnergies — will be entitled to 36pc of production revenues, while Namcor will have a 10pc stake. The rest will accrue to the Namibian government, consisting of a royalty fee of 5pc, corporate income tax of 35pc, an additional profits tax of 5-12pc, as well as an annual licence fee and a training contribution. This could double Namibia's annual GDP in less than a decade, to $37bn by 2040, Ndeunyema said.

By Elaine Mills

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