Business
Namibia strikes oil
The Namibian government on Tuesday announced the first discovery of oil off it’s coast around the Walvis Basin.
Namibia has commissioned a Rio de Janeiro-based energy and exploration firm HRT to assist in looking for the possibilities that the waters of it’s coast may bear oil and gas.
The recent findings from an exploratory well, though commercially viable in terms of volume, are promising.
The company discovered “two well-developed source rocks” and “several thin-bedded sandy reservoirs that are saturated by oil”.
Work will begin in the next 15 days at a second exploration location 15 kilometres (nine miles) to the west of this well.
The find, raises hopes that Namibia could become the latest southern African country to strike oil reserves.
Angola to the north of Namibia is Africa’s second-biggest producer of crude, after Nigeria. Namibia currently has no oil production and no proven reserves.
However, it does have proven gas reserves of 56.6 billion cubic metres (two trillion cubic feet).
HRT is just one of a number of companies with concessions in Namibia’s deep Atlantic waters.
Spain’s Repsol and Brazil’s Petrobras also have production licenses.
Copyright 2013 AFP