Seth !Nowaseb
The discovery of oil and gas reserves in the southern seas of Namibia has been widely reported and discussed.
The news of these discoveries by, among others, Shell (UK and Netherlands), TotalEnergies (France), Qatar Petroleum (Qatar) and Galp Energia (Portugal) all announced significant discovered oil in the Orange Basin off the southern coast of Namibia.
It was reported that these discoveries could be more than 20 billion barrels of oil, which would potentially make Namibia the
third or fourth-largest oil producer in Africa. This is huge and very exciting. These discoveries of oil along Namibia's coast have been coming at a breakneck speed, one revelation of good news after
another.
Any country and its people
who receive such news should rightly be excited about the prospects of transformation to its economy and improved quality of life for its
people.
Thus, it is not surprising that Namibians are excited, expectant and may even feel entitled.
What has been surprising is the consistent refrain of some Namibian public figures that oil belongs to other people namely those who discovered it.
Our late president once announced on national TV that oil that was discovered along the Namibian coast did not belong to the Namibian people but to those who made the discovery.
This was a hogwash.
Of course, the oil belongs to Namibia and its people, particularly the southerners. The others are investors and shareholders – not owners.
More recently, we heard the minister of mines and energy berating Namibians for being
entitled to oil discoveries and their proceeds. He was heard saying that Namibians should not stop being entitled to the oil found
off its coasts. “No one can give you a job simply because you are Namibian,” he was quoted saying.
But why not? Yes, they can and they should expect to be given
jobs. In many countries, the locals are given jobs ahead of others. But not only that. Locals are prepared, empowered and given preferential treatment.
It is normal.
Interestingly, it is okay for people to tell us that oil discovered off the Namibian shore belongs to Shell, Total Energies, Qatar, Galp and others. It is okay for foreign multinationals to be excited about Namibian oil finds. But for some reason, Namibians are not meant to feel ownership or entitlement.
Why are some of our public figures hellbent on trying to sell and apportion our national resources to others more than they do to us, the owners? Who do these politicians want to impress with these misplaced sentiments? Why are they so
keen to defend the interest of the outsiders? It is as if the only interests that should be protected here are t
hose of the investors and share
holders and not the legitimate owners of the actual resource. There is nothing wrong with wanting to please the investors, but these politicians are appointed
to work for the interest of the
people who appointed them in
the first place. The current oil ownership is as follows: for Mopane fields and
Galp Energia (80%), Namcor
(10%) and Custos (10%), for Venus 1A and X1 and Shell Petroleum (45%), Qatar Petroleum (45%) and Namcor (10%). That pittance for Namibia should be addressed
sooner than later. Namibia may lose an opportunity to sign agreements that benefit Namibians in its eagerness to encourage oil exploration. There have been many instances where developing countries signed flimsy agreements because of poor due diligence. Anyone who has read the history of Aramco and others will know that the developing nations with oil reserves were not in a position to be involved in local oil discovery and production due
to lack of resources and expertise.
As a result, many countries made unfavourable agreements with multinational oil companies. It seems that Namibia is going
down the same route and is giving away too much equity, as seen
above. The ministers and others tell stories about investment,
risk-taking and taxes to excuse
the huge shares held by the multinationals in our Namibian oil discoveries. What Namibians
should do is find experienced, highly skilled lawyers to look at
these contracts, and position themselves to benefit as much as possible from the resources.
Whatever the politicians tell us, the current agreements with Shell, Qatar, Total Energia, Galp and others do not seem to benefit Namibia.
A mere 10% in most of these
deals for the country that is the
owner of the oil resources is a
daylight robbery. Namibian,
resources should serve Namibian,s
and provide a fair return to the investors. The production from oil resources should in the first instance serve the interest of people, villages and towns in the south (Keetmanshoop, Karasburg, Bethanien, Lüderitz, Tses, Berseba, up to Windhoek) and the rest of the country. The employment opportunities should similarly concentrate on developing the southern communities first, and
the rest of the country thereafter.
To argue that the owners (all of Namibia) of the natural oil resources should get the same amount of shareholding as
individual middlemen is absurd.
Remember, charity begins at home. That means people from the regions should get first benefits, opportunities and transformation.
Instead of sending 80% of
people from the north or else
where to prepare for training, the exploitation of oil, and attendant benefits must first benefit people from Karasburg, Bethanien, Keetmanshoop and so on. The roads, schools, hospitals and
houses to be built must start with those towns. Rossing Uranium
Mine had a brilliant idea when they started Arandis Town.
Similarly, projects could be undertaken in the south, with an emphasis on developing southern towns and villages before the oil resources are invested in other
areas. However, that would mean Namibia should also renegotiate
its stakes in all those agreements.
Do not tell me that is not
possible.
This has been done everywhere with the same multinational companies – in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Abu-Dhabi, Iran and Iraq), in Africa (Algeria and Libya), South America (Ecuador and Venezuela), as well as in North America (Canada and Mexico).
A cursory look at the oil and gas industries will show that in many cases, there were efforts to r
enegotiate the deals made with
major multi-national oil companies to reset and re-balance the benefit- sharing in the interest of the oil-producing countries, which
Namibia will become in the next few years. Thus, Namibia has many examples to learn from to avoid making a mockery of its natural resource management process. Norway can show us how to get oil management right, while Angola and Nigeria can show us what not to do. Sudan can show us the
perils of excluding local people
and the experiences of the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta (Nigeria) can teach us what happens when the oil companies are left unchecked – not held accountable. It is time for Namibia to slow down, take a moment, look at what it is willing to give up to please the oil companies and instead ensure everything it does is in the interest of its people.
It is, of course, necessary to be fair with companies that invested large amounts of resources to make the discovery and bring the Namibian oil to the shore. However, anyone who thinks 90:10 shareholding between multinationals and the Namibian people needs to get their head checked, it is not too late to look at those contracts again.
Our children’s future depends on and demands such due diligence.
In the final analysis, Namibians – particularly southerners – have every right to be entitled to the benefits of their minerals, as well as oil and gas resources.
There is no shame in that.
*Seth !Nowaseb is an academic. He writes in his own capacity.