“Namibia: Beyond Venus and Graff,” Petroleum Commissioner Maggy Shino of Mines and Energy unveils energy plan

By Freeman ya Ngulu.

At the Invest in African Energy reception, sponsored by the African Energy Chamber in London, Namibia — one of Africa’s last unexplored carbon regions — offered a thorough presentation of its upstream exploration and green hydrogen production potential.

With two sibling discoveries in 2022 setting the nation at the vanguard of Africa’s upstream renaissance, Namibia is adopting a distinctive integrated hydrocarbon strategy to produce first oil while prioritizing the global energy shift and a diversified energy matrix.

With combined volumes of 835 million barrels and the potential to rise to one billion barrels due to Venus’ prospectivity, Shell, TotalEnergies, and their joint venture partners led commercial discoveries of light oil in the Graff-1 well and Venus-1X wildcat well, respectively. With five wells already committed and a working petroleum system, the Namibian government is now encouraging new participants to speed up exploration of the Orange Basin by providing an open licensing system and access to high-quality data.

“The beauty of Namibia [is that it] will give you the opportunity of a lifetime,” opened Maggy Shino, Petroleum Commissioner of Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy, during her presentation, delivered under the theme, Namibia: Beyond Venus and Graff.

The Kudu Conventional Gas Field, run by BW Kudu and now in its feed stage with commercial production anticipated to begin in 2024, is one of the nation’s most productive assets. The development is anticipated to produce a maximum of 64 million cubic feet per day from reserves that total roughly 600 billion cubic feet. The project serves as an example of Namibia’s integrated energy strategy because it not only makes use of existing infrastructure, targets regional energy security, and provides baseload electricity to support renewable energy IPPs.

“The only field that can provide you with the solutions you require is Kudu.” Speaking to investors, Shino said, “The product is ready. In the midst of the energy transformation, it will provide you with a clean energy option.”