Namibia’s oil potential could one day rival Guyana, where major discoveries have sparked economic transformation and pitted the world’s biggest companies in a battle for position.
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(Bloomberg) — Namibia’s oil potential could one day rival Guyana, where major discoveries have sparked economic transformation and pitted the world’s largest companies in a battle for position.
There is a “big piece of oil” in the waters off Namibia, said Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies SE, which, along with several other companies, has made significant discoveries in the African country.
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“Shell has some oil, we have some oil, Galp has some oil,” Pouyanne said in an interview on Wednesday at the French company’s headquarters near Paris. A scenario “like what is happening in Guyana today is very possible.”
In the past two years, TotalEnergies, Shell Plc and Galp Energia SGPS SA have made discoveries off Africa’s southwest coast, turning sparsely populated Namibia into an exploration hotspot. Although no field has yet been given the green light for development, hopes are high in the country that an economic boom similar to Guyana’s is on the horizon.
The Latin American country became the world’s fastest-growing economy after Exxon Mobil Corp. had made major offshore discoveries there. Earlier this month, the US company officially approved its sixth oil project in Guyana, which will one day make it a larger crude producer than its neighbor and founding OPEC member, Venezuela.
Pouyanne warned that optimizing multiple projects led by different operators in Namibia could be more complex than the single company Exxon leading development in Guyana.
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By the end of next year, TotalEnergies aims to approve its first oil production in Namibia as part of the Venus discovery. This could be a floating production, storage and offtake vessel with a capacity of up to 180,000 barrels per day, Pouyanne said. The company will continue exploring its blocks before considering whether it might need more production vessels and can be reassured that Shell appears to have made another find in an adjacent area, he said.
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Officials from the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy and state oil company Namcor visited Guyana late last year and sought advice on oil developments, including local business participation, public awareness and port facility expansion.
There were many infrastructure issues in Guyana “and the advice that Namibia received was to take our time and do a proper infrastructure assessment,” said Maggy Shino, Namibia’s petroleum commissioner, in an emailed response to questions.
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