During an official visit to South Africa last week, Namibian President H.E. Hage Geingob emphasized the advantageous role that Namibia’s recent offshore oil discoveries could play for neighboring South Africa.
Namibia, which struck oil three times in the past year in its offshore Orange Basin, is seeking to transform its emergent hydrocarbon wealth into regional export revenues and trade relationships.
The southern African nation is estimated to hold 11 billion barrels of offshore oil reserves and its Graff-1X and Venus-1X discoveries could generate over $5 billion in annual taxes and royalties, doubling Namibia’s GDP by 2040. First oil is anticipated by 2026.
“Shell and TotalEnergies, together with our national oil company NAMCOR and investors from Qatar, have discovered hydrocarbons not far from South Africa in the Orange Basin,” stated President Geingob. “This presents us with another opportunity for collaboration between our governments and the private sector in the oil and gas sectors.”
