Mines and Energy minister, Tom Alweendo says Namibia is moving ahead with the development of both its oil and gas sector, and its green hydrogen initiatives, maintaining there was no contradiction in the decision.
This comes as the world is under pressure to dump fossil fuel and embrace renewable energy to combat climate change.
“The world needs options for all economic energy sources to meet the needs of growing energy demand, in particular from the developing world. Therefore, there is no contradiction in embracing the development of both fossil fuel and renewable energy as the economic benefits from the fossil fuel will strengthen our ability to embrace a sustainable energy transition,” the mines minister told participants attending this year’s edition of CERAWeek in Houston, Texas, the United States.
Alweendo said Namibia was aware of the dangers posed by climate change and was committed to joining global efforts to mitigate its effects through significantly reducing its emissions, but called for the energy transition to be just.
“The energy transition needs a collective effort. Therefore, the energy transition must be just, in a sense that, it must not weaken the economic resilience of certain countries, especially those in the developing world where energy poverty is so significant,” he said.
“A smoother and just energy transition will therefore require us to ensure that the developing world has sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy supply. With new technological advancement such as carbon capture and storage, our potential carbon emissions from oil and gas production will be minimal.”
Namibia recently recorded two major oil finds led by Shell and Totalenergies whose commerciality is still to be established. At the same time, the country awarded Hyphen Hydrogen Energy two bids to construct Namibia’s inaugural green hydrogen projects.
Alweendo said despite the oil discoveries, the country’s oil and gas sector remains under explored.
“Despite these discoveries the country remains under explored in terms of oil and gas resources. Therefore, I would like to invite you to invest in the Namibia’s oil and gas sector,” the Mines minister
“We are pursuing the development of the country’s oil and natural gas resources. Namibia has experienced a growing interest in hydrocarbon exploration over the past decade.”
According to the Mines ministry, Namibia currently has only 40 active exploration licences awarded to international oil and gas companies.
Namibia has sought to develop oil and gas fields for decades with no success. However, its green hydrogen initiative is expected to generate close to N$4 billion in revenues per annum once full production capacity is reached, with 15,000 direct jobs to be created during construction and 3,000 during operation.
CERAWeek, one of the largest and most influential global energy forums, was held amid soaring oil prices driven in part by the Ukraine crisis.
