Boasting 11 Billion Barrels Of Oil, Namibia To Participate In MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2022
THE Southern African nation is pushing ahead with Hyphen Energy’s $9.4
billion project equivalent
In less than a fortnight, Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy
of Namibia, will meet with their MSGBC counterparts in West Africa’s
leading energy forum.
Organizers of the forum have confirmed that from 1 to 2 September, the
nations of the MSGBC basin, their African allies, international oil
companies and investors will convene to write a future for African
energy that develops Africa. And notable amongst those countries
stepping in to explore synergies with their MSGBC counterparts is
Namibia, a nation with 11 billion barrels of discovered oil reserves
to the basin’s estimated nine billion, the said.
While Namibia has further confirmed a delegation of half a dozen of
its top civic executives.
According to experts, having experienced its own hydrocarbons surge
akin to the basin’s this past decade, Namibia continues to take great
strides towards becoming a competitive oil and gas producer.
Under Tom Alweendo’s leadership, Namibia has become one of the most
attractive African nations for investment thanks to regulatory
reforms, cementing ties with a diverse slate of supermajors including
TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, ReconAfrica, Eco Atlantic, Africa Energy
Corp and Qatar Energy.
And indeed research attests, just this year, Shell and TotalEnergies
announced two world-class discoveries a month apart in January and
February, respectively. The former of these, Shell’s Graff-1, holds
300 million barrels of reserves, trumped only by the latter –
TotalEnergies’ Venus-1 field with three billion barrels worth of
recoverable oil. This is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest ever oil find
and TotalEnergies’ largest discovery of the past two decades,
dispelling any uncertainty over Namibia’s paramount standing in the
African energy sector.
Moreover, following in the MSGBC basin’s footsteps, Namibia is
approaching a one third renewables share at 30.3% of total fiscal
energy consumption, and whilst Mauritania lines up the world’s largest
green hydrogen project – CWP’s $40 billion 30 GW Aman megadevelopment
– Namibia is pushing ahead with Hyphen Energy’s $9.4 billion project
equivalent, taking advantage of Alweendo’s deep financial background
as the first Namibian Governor of the Bank of Namibia and prior
Minister of Economic Planning to attract foreign direct investment at
unprecedented levels.
In addition, Alweendo is scheduled to speak at MSGBC 2022’s opening
morning’s Ministerial Panel along with the respective ministers of
Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea,
Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Congo-Brazzaville, subsequently gathering later that day under the
auspices of President Macky Sall to co-author the Dakar Declaration –
a common African position on approaching a just and equitable energy
transition.
Notably, the minister is joined by Maggy Shino, Petroleum
Commissioner; Immanuel Mulunga, Managing Director at the National
Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR); Rachel Msiska, Personal
Assistant at NAMCOR; Shiwana Ndeunyema, Executive: Strategy and
Business Development at NAMCOR and Elvis Shiweda, Ambassador of the
Republic of Namibia to Senegal, in comprising the national delegation.
It will be interesting to see in the next couple years, whether
Namibia will go on to become a new ‘Power-House’ of Southern Africa;
and even Africa for that matter.
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