The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) says it anticipates the country to commence oil production by 2029.
Currently, oil major Shell is conducting appraisal work on PEL-39 to determine the commercial viability of the hydrocarbon.
Shell and its partners, NAMCOR and Qatar Energy, announced a significant discovery of light oil in the Jonker-1X deep-water exploration well, located in the offshore region approximately 270 kilometres off the Namibian coast.
The PEL-39 exploration licence is held by a consortium of Shell (45%), QatarEnergy (45%), and NAMCOR 10%.
“For PEL 39 (Graff), we are talking about a fast-tracked programme, if the appraisal programme is a success. We are targeting first oil by 2029,” NAMCOR’s Executive for Upstream Exploration Victoria Sibeya told the African Energy Forum in Paris.
Already Shell Namibia Upstream B.V has entered into a N$1.7-billion contract extension with Northern Ocean for continued work using the Deepsea Bollsta.
According to NAMCOR’s acting Managing Director Shiwana Ndeunyema, Namibia’s oil and gas discoveries have the potential to create over 4,000 jobs.
“Over the past two years, we have made three major discoveries almost 50 years after the Kudu discovery. We are interested in the derivative benefits that oil and gas will bring to Namibia. You have economic benefits including job creation and doubling GDP. At peak, these discoveries have the potential to create up to 4,000 jobs for the country,” Ndeunyema said.
About 37 dry wells were drilled in Namibia prior to the recent discoveries.
In addition, Sibeya revealed that Namibia is planning to produce 400MW of power from the Kudu Gas project, with operations starting in 2026, while South Africa will be exporting partners.
“We have already conducted a pre-FEED study. The FEED study we expect to complete by Quarter 1 of 2024,” Sibeya said.
Pre-FEED is a preliminary step taken before basic engineering-level work and is sometimes undertaken to confirm the technical and economic feasibility of the project.
Namibia is bullish about the future economic prospects of the country following the discovery of oil by Qatar Energy, Shell, and Total Energies in the Orange Basin, offshore Namibia near Luderitz.
The Shell and Total Energies discoveries according to government estimates, could generate annual taxes and royalties of between N$60-N$95 billion, with the potential to create 3,600 jobs at the peak of production.
