Namibia’s offshore oil discoveries and their potential impact on the country’s economy. The discoveries are estimated to be around 11 billion barrels in total. The article highlights that TotalEnergies’ Venus-1X find constitutes nearly half of this total. Shell and TotalEnergies have made these deep-water discoveries over the past two years.
Namibia, a southern African country that has not yet produced any oil or gas, is now considered a global exploration hotspot due to these recent findings. According to the state-owned oil firm NAMCOR, these discoveries could potentially elevate Namibia to become one of the top 15 oil producers by 2035. Furthermore, it’s suggested that this could lead to a significant boost in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita within a decade.
In terms of specific quantities, the Venus well is reported to contain approximately 5.1 billion barrels of oil, while Shell’s Graff-1X and Jonker-1X hold around 2.38 billion and 2.5 billion barrels respectively. These numbers might change as the wells are further appraised, and a final reserve estimate could be released later in the year, according to Namibian oil officials.
The article mentions that the development of the Venus and Jonker wells is being expedited through a “multi-phased incremental” approach. NAMCOR has a 10% interest in these discoveries. On the other hand, there isn’t a development concept yet for Shell’s Graff and Le Rona wells.
NAMCOR forecasts that based on initial estimates, the potential of Graff and Venus could nearly double Namibia’s GDP by 2040, reaching close to $37 billion.
