Namibia has oil! The exploration team comprising the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia and its partners, Shell Namibia Upstream B.V and Qatar Energy, on Friday confirmed what oil industry experts have been raving about for at least the last month, an oil discovery offshore Namibia in the Orange Basin.
However, Namcor and its partners reiterated the need for more analysis over the coming months to determine the commercial viability of the discovery. A statement released on Friday afternoon by the state-owned oil company, Namcor, announced that the Graff-1 deepwater exploration well has made a discovery of light oil in both primary and secondary targets.
“The Graff-1 well has proved a working petroleum system for light oil in the Orange Basin, offshore Namibia, 270 km from the town of Oranjemund. Drilling operations commenced in early December 2021 and were safely completed in early February 2022,” read the statement from Namcor spokesperson, Paulo Coelho.
There are essentially four main types of oil, namely very light oils, light oils, medium oils, and heavy fuel oils. Light crude oil is described as liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature. According to industry experts, light crude oil generally receives a higher price than heavy crude oil on commodity markets as it produces a higher percentage of gasoline and diesel fuel when converted into products by an oil refinery.
A wide variety of benchmark crude oils worldwide are considered to be light, the most prominent being in North America. The largest oil field in the world in Saudi Arabia produces light crude oils.
“In the coming months, we will perform extensive laboratory analyses to gain a better understanding of the reservoir quality and potential flow rates achievable. Whilst we can learn a great deal from the results of Graff-1, we anticipate that further exploration activity, including a second exploration well, will be required to determine the size and recoverable potential of the identified hydrocarbons,” read the Namcor statement.
“We hope that this discovery puts to rest doubts about the hydrocarbon potential of Namibia and opens a new dawn in the country’s future prosperity,” commented Namcor managing director, Immanuel Mulunga.
When contacted for comment, the mines and energy minister referred this reporter to the Petroleum Commissioner, Maggy Shino.
“Yes, we can confirm that a discovery of light oil has been made from the drilling of the Graff-1 well. More technical work, however, needs to be undertaken to enable us to quantify the discovery,” said Shino on Friday.
Shell holds a 45% stake in the offshore licence area where the discovery was made, with a 45% interest held by Qatar Petroleum and 10% held by Namcor.
Namibia does not currently produce any fossil fuels, although its northern neighbour Angola is a major producer.
In late January, the oil giant said, “Shell has discovered a substantial amount of offshore oil and gas in Namibia.”
Shell further stated that early analysis of the discovery estimates the existence of a total of about 250 to 300 million barrels of oil and gas from the initial exploratory drillings done.
Recently, Namibia’s offshore prospects have attracted interest from Exxon Mobil and TotalEnergies following discoveries in neighbouring South Africa as well as Brazil and Guyana, which share geological similarities.
The recent discovery, reported by New Era in January this year, comes as Shell begins winding down its oil production as part of a plan to shift to renewable energy and low-carbon fuels.
Despite these plans, Shell could opt to develop this new field to replenish its reserves and replace production declines elsewhere.
Photo: Discovery