National Petroleum Company of Namibia (NAMCOR) Chairperson, Jennifer Comalie, says the country’s two oil finds could generate US$5.6 billion in revenue for the country at peak production.
“After more than 30 years of exploration, we finally hit the jackpot,” Comalie said in an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, without giving a timeline for production.
She said the oil find had the potential to double Namibia’s economy, which is estimated at US$11 billion by Bloomberg, by 2040.
The pronouncement comes as Cirrus Capital in April forecasted that Namibia had the potential to generate over N$500 billion in potential revenues in the coming decade through taxes and royalties charged to the oil sector.
The investment advisory firm estimates Namibia’s oil industry has potential to double government revenues to N$100 billion, with total government revenue having amounted to N$53.6 billion in the 2021/22 financial year.
Contrary to estimates that Namibia plans on reaching production by 2028 if the process is accelerated, Cirrus Capital expects oil extraction to take between 7 to 10 years if commercial viability of the find is confirmed.
NAMCOR and its partners, Shell Namibia Upstream B.V and Qatar Energy, are said to have discovered a working petroleum system for light oil in the Orange Basin, 270 km from the town of Oranjemund, where drilling operations commenced in early December 2021 and were safely completed in early February 2022.
The company’s other partners, TotalEnergies, alongside QatarEnergy, and Impact Oil and Gas have also announced the Venus-1X discovery, located approximately 290 kilometres off the coast of Namibia, in the deep-water offshore exploration Block 2913B, which covers approximately 8,215 km².
According to the Namibia Petroleum Operators Association (NAMPOA), exploration companies have sunk in over N$30 billion in the country since independence.
Consultants Woo Mackenzie estimated the combined recoverable finds at almost 4 billion barrels.
