Africa-Press – Namibia. THE petroleum commissioner in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Maggy Shino, says tens of billions of dollars in new investments are needed if the country is to move from being an oil discoverer to an oil producer.
THE petroleum commissioner in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Maggy Shino, says tens of billions of dollars in new investments are needed if the country is to move from being an oil discoverer to an oil producer.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Windhoek yesterday, Shino said despite the discovery of oil off the coast of Namibia, the journey to production was still very long.
“I know we have had a discovery and there has been a hype of jubilation, but what we need to understand is that for us as explorers, we still have a long journey ahead of us before we can change Namibia’s narrative to say we are an oil producing nation,” she said.
Shino said the country has been there before when discoveries were made of the Kudu gas in 1974, but the resource is still untapped.
According to the commissioner, for things to change from what happened with Kudu gas to what has happened with oil discovery in 2022, depends on policymakers and government coherence before Namibia gets to its first oil.
“We also need, as a country, to be competitive for those resources to have a meaningful impact on our economy. Namibia has made discoveries at a time when issues of energy transition have come to the fore.
“We are finding ourselves with oil at a time when the international community, which is the source of the funding we require to bring these resources to the surface are moving away from fossil fuel and trying to decarbonise the environment,” she said.
Explaining the long journey, Shino said it started with the issuing of licences. Shell got their licence in 2011 but only made a discovery in 2022. Total also took a long time before they made any discovery.
“Now that two discoveries were made, we need to go into the next phase of exploration with Shell and Total to allocate them the volumetrix of this discovery.
“We need them to go into the appraisal phase, which Total has commenced and Shell is to follow soon.”
She said the two companies will drill more wells to establish how much oil reserves the country has and if it is of commercial value.
“This can take two years before we enter the development stage because by then we would know the volumes of oil in reserve,” she said. The country would then decide how to extract the oil, bringing it to the surface” she said.
Also making a presentation at the meeting was John Titus, the director of energy, who spoke on green hydrogen and the opportunities it brought to Namibia.
“We can combine it with nitrogen to produce ammonia for industrial and agro purposes. The green hydrogen can also be exported to Europe,” he said.
He said Namibia was best suited for green hydrogen production because of its excellent wind speeds of eight metres per second as well as the excellent solar resource, especially in the south.
He said four valleys had been identified for development and production of hydrogen.
These are in //Kharas region, the Kunene valley, the Erongo region and the central region.
Diamond commissioner Miina Auene-Guhutu addressed the parliamentarians on the Diamond Act and amendments that would be beneficial to the industry and Namibians, while mining commissioner Erusmus Shivolo spoke on the draft minerals bill and proposals it contains.
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Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting in Windhoek yesterday, Shino said despite the discovery of oil off the coast of Namibia, the journey to production was still very long.
“I know we have had a discovery and there has been a hype of jubilation, but what we need to understand is that for us as explorers, we still have a long journey ahead of us before we can change Namibia’s narrative to say we are an oil producing nation,” she said.
Shino said the country has been there before when discoveries were made of the Kudu gas in 1974, but the resource is still untapped.
According to the commissioner, for things to change from what happened with Kudu gas to what has happened with oil discovery in 2022, depends on policymakers and government coherence before Namibia gets to its first oil.
“We also need, as a country, to be competitive for those resources to have a meaningful impact on our economy. Namibia has made discoveries at a time when issues of energy transition have come to the fore.
“We are finding ourselves with oil at a time when the international community, which is the source of the funding we require to bring these resources to the surface are moving away from fossil fuel and trying to decarbonise the environment,” she said.
Explaining the long journey, Shino said it started with the issuing of licences. Shell got their licence in 2011 but only made a discovery in 2022. Total also took a long time before they made any discovery.
“Now that two discoveries were made, we need to go into the next phase of exploration with Shell and Total to allocate them the volumetrix of this discovery.
“We need them to go into the appraisal phase, which Total has commenced and Shell is to follow soon.”
She said the two companies will drill more wells to establish how much oil reserves the country has and if it is of commercial value.
“This can take two years before we enter the development stage because by then we would know the volumes of oil in reserve,” she said. The country would then decide how to extract the oil, bringing it to the surface” she said.
Also making a presentation at the meeting was John Titus, the director of energy, who spoke on green hydrogen and the opportunities it brought to Namibia.
“We can combine it with nitrogen to produce ammonia for industrial and agro purposes. The green hydrogen can also be exported to Europe,” he said.
He said Namibia was best suited for green hydrogen production because of its excellent wind speeds of eight metres per second as well as the excellent solar resource, especially in the south.
He said four valleys had been identified for development and production of hydrogen.
These are in //Kharas region, the Kunene valley, the Erongo region and the central region.
Diamond commissioner Miina Auene-Guhutu addressed the parliamentarians on the Diamond Act and amendments that would be beneficial to the industry and Namibians, while mining commissioner Erusmus Shivolo spoke on the draft minerals bill and proposals it contains.
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