With the global rush to wean economies off fossil fuels, Total Energies and Shell are racing against the clock to make hay while the Just Transition sun shines on oil, fueling hopes that Namibia’s largest oil discoveries since independence could double its economy by 2040.
Total Energies and Shell announced earlier this year that they had made “significant” discoveries off the coast of Namibia.
While the oil and gas industry is also known for long development periods before reaching the market due to insufficient infrastructure investment, Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo is optimistic about the billions of barrels discoveries, stating that production could begin within the next four years.
“Companies are cautious, but have spoken of commercial quantities in billions of barrels. The marketability is there. They basically want to make sure that before they commit to production investments, they know what exact quantities are there”, Alweendo says.
Speaking on the side-lines of the Oil Conference in Dakar, Alweendo stated that “Both companies want to speed up the production process and both have mentioned that in four years they should start producing. It’s not something we’ve imposed, but it’s something we’ve discussed.”
Shell, in collaboration with Namcor and Qatar Energy, is said to have discovered a working petroleum system for light oil in the Orange Basin, 270 kilometres from the town of Oranjemund, where drilling operations began in early December 2021 and were safely completed in early February 2022.
The Venus-1X discovery by Total Energies, Qatar Energy, and Impact Oil and Gas is located approximately 290 kilometres off the coast of Namibia, in the deep-water offshore exploration Block 2913B, which covers approximately 8,215 km2.
Namibia, which borders OPEC member Angola, could become the latest oil producer along Africa’s Atlantic coast as a result of the discoveries.
Non-governmental organisations and environmentalists have warned that the discoveries could have the same negative impact on Namibia as Shell’s exploitation of the Niger Delta.
