Recon has no license to conduct fracking in Namibia says mines ministry
The Office of the Petroleum Commissioner in the Ministry of Mines and Energy said there are no considerations to grant Reconnaissance Energy Africa (Recon Africa) a licence to conduct hydraulic fracturing in Namibia.
“We can confirm that no license to conduct fracking activities was granted to Reconnaissance Energy by the Ministry and no such license is being contemplated,” Petroleum Commissioner, Maggy Shino, said Monday 08 March.
Shino said Recon was issued with Petroleum Exploration Licence No 73 to undertake exploration activities in Block 1819 and 1820 located north eastern parts of Namibia.
“The company is currently at the early stages of exploration where they are drilling three stratigraphic wells. The results obtained from this drilling exercise will advise the layout of the seismic acquisition, which is the next activity,” Shino said.
Once there is success during the exploration phase in a form of a commercial discovery, a production licence will be entered into following negotiations of the field development plan which will form the basis of the production licence terms and conditions.
Shino said the ministry is working closely with Reconnaissance Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to ensure that the current drilling and future operations are performed in an environmentally sound manner.
“We are well aware of the value and wealth that our country is endowed with both on the surface and subsurface. It is our objective as a Ministry to regulate the exploration and exploitation of our country’s natural resources in an environmental sustainable manner and utilize an evidence-based approach when making decisions to formulate policies. The drilling of these stratigraphic wells is one of the methods used to obtain technical evidence and data of our subsurface environment to enable sound economical decisions,” she added.
