Something like Kudu is coming, let us prepare!
“Something like Kudu is coming, let us prepare” were the exact words of NAMCOR outgoing board chairperson Johannes !Gawaxab showing once again the resilience of the Kudu power project.
!Gawaxab addressed NAMCOR employees in his last public address as board chairperson and spoke extensively on Kudu, the reinstatement of the fuel import mandate and the bulk fuel storage facility.
Kudu it appears has lined up the suitors with the N$15 billion project even attracting the interests of the International Finance Corporation !Gawaxab indicated. “NAMCOR has taken over from Tullow Oil as operator together with BW Offshore. The upstream part can be financed without government support. Adapting the Tullow Field Development Plan, NAMCOR is now proceeding with its own rigorous technical review.”
He added, “we have found investors for the Kudu power project. N$233 million has already been spent.”NAMCOR and BW Offshore will have a 56% holding in the project while 44% is expected to be financed by investors, with the project expected to cost just under US$1 billion. “44% is outstanding for local and international players or even Development Finance Institutions. 10% is for NAMCOR and the country.”
He did note that the government has the final say on the Kudu project as NAMCOR’s shareholder and told the audience that the oil and gas company had completed its work on the project.
According to !Gawaxab, Kudu is just one of the projects that will see NAMCOR generate as much as N$5 billion in revenue terms within the next five years and also spoke positively of the impact from the reinstatement of its fuel import mandate and the bulk fuel storage facility. He indicated that the bulk fuel storage facility would appear on NAMCOR’s balance sheet as early as 2018.
“The bulk fuel storage facility is expected to be finalised by December 2017,” said !Gawaxab.
Under his stewardship, !Gawaxab noted that NAMCOR’s balance sheet grew considerably. “Had we continued having these revenues, we probably would have had revenues of N$3 billion” !Gawaxab said noting that the removal of the fuel import mandate by the government was the reason for the decline.
