– Russian Explorer Confident: ‘I’ve Seen It’ By Catherine Sasman WINDHOEK The first Russian company to have entered into the search for oil along the Namibian coastline will start drilling the first well by October next year, following intensive geological and seismic surveys. “President Hifikepunye Pohamba said the country needs oil and we hope the Russians will find it first,” said representative of the Sintez Group, Dr Khalin Valentine Vladimirovich. A subsidiary company of the group, Sintezneftegaz Namibia (Ltd), was granted an exploration licence to develop offshore and onshore oilfields in Namibia at block 1711 in the Namibe Basin in June last year. The area covers 8 931 square kilometres. The company will invest US$80 million in the exploration phase. Under Namibian law, a company that discovers oil and gas fields is granted an exclusive right to obtain a further licence to produce mineral deposits from the licensed allotment. The Sintez Group holds 70 per cent under the joint development project. Other stakeholders are Energulf Namibia (10%), PetroSa (10%) [The national oil company of South Africa], NAMCOR (7%), with a BEE component holding 3 per cent. While hesitant to say what the prospects for oil in the block are, Vladimirovich said that Namibia’s oil-hunger “will be satisfied for at least the next 20 years at today’s requirements”. “What is important is that this will bring about a strong push for the economic development of particularly the north of Namibia,” said Vladimirovich. Should oil be discovered, reserves will be for the export market, he added. The offshore geological characteristics of the licensed zone are identical to that of the northern sedimentary basins of the Congo and Kwanza where several large fields with considerable oil and gas content were discovered. “Namibia will be an oil producing country; there is oil here,” he said. “I have already seen it.” Vladimirovich’s involvement with Namibia started when he served as a Russian military adviser to SWAPO’s PLAN at Lubango, Angola, 20 years ago. During that time, he said, PLAN operations brought him to northern Kavango – more or less the area licensed for oil exploration. There the combatants drilled for water but instead found “a dark liquid with a consistent oil smell”, albeit not of very high quality. The hole was closed and the combatants moved on, “because during the war no-one was interested in oil”. Vladimirovich became re-acquainted with former President Sam Nujoma and the current Minister of Mines and Energy, Erkki Nghimtina, when he was invited to the Namibian Embassy in Russia in 1998. At the occasion, Nujoma spoke to him about Namibia’s oil projects and invited Russian investors to the country. Vladimirovich then identified the Sintez Group that has experience in all aspects of the oil industry. The group, which comprises six production and investment companies in the fossil energy sector and related industries, has been operating in the Russian fuel and energy market since the early 1990’s. It is involved in oil exploration in the offshore regions of Barents and Pechora Seas, north of Russia, as well as in Siberia. Should oil be discovered, companies are required to provide the State with an environmental impact assessment and environmental management plan for approval. Possible environmentally sensitive areas included in the exploration block are the area offshore from the Kunene River mouth that is important for fish spawning and a place for breeding of migrant seabird species. Some of the bird species are under consideration for the World Conservation Union conservation’s status listing. Some rare whale and dolphin species, considered to be vulnerable because of their limited distribution, are also found in the area.