Bank of Namibia deputy governor Ebson Uanguta yesterday assumed duty as the interim managing director of the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) for the next six months.
Namcor is a state-owned entity, responsible for the exploration, production, and marketing of Namibia’s petroleum resources. In addition to other challenges, Uanguta is expected to steer the troubled institution that is currently experiencing severe cash flow issues, on the right course.
In a statement issued this week, the company said Uanguta will be a great asset to Namcor during this critical transitional moment due to his vast knowledge of organisational and financial management.
Uanguta, who has a wealth of experience and managerial expertise, is expected to turn things at Namcor around for the
better.
When contacted by this publication yesterday, he said he’s going to do some consultations with all key stakeholders before commenting on anything.
Uanguta replaces Shiwana Ndeunyema who held the position on an acting capacity for nine months.
“The board wishes to express its gratitude to the outgoing interim managing director, Shiwana Ndeunyema, for his dedicated service at a critical time of Namcor’s growth. During his nine-month tenure, Ndeunyema played a pivotal role in stabilising the company and securing essential funding as part of Namcor’s turnaround strategy,” reads the statement.
During his tenure last year Ndeunyema stated that Namcor had developed a three-phase turnaround strategy to ensure its future sustainability.
The strategy entails short-term financial stabilisation, as well as a request to government for a significant capital injection. The primary aim of the strategy is to address Namcor’s current working capital deficit.
As of 31 March 2023, Namcor faced a severe working capital deficit, with creditors owed N$2,5 billion. By September 2023, the corporation had managed to reduce this to N$1,9 billion through robust margin and profitability analysis, and strategic debt restructuring.
Namcor’s other operations consist upstream and downstream subsidiaries. The upstream sector involves exploration and extraction, while the downstream sector entails the retail side of the business. Downstream is the part of the oil and natural gas industry responsible for the refining, distributing and retailing of petroleum products.
Towards the end of last year, Ndeunyema highlighted that Namcor’s upstream entity is flourishing and has a positive bottom line but admitted that the downstream side is facing a myriad of challenges. Among these challenges are a volatile international oil market, as well as a constantly fluctuating currency exchange rate.
As at 31 March 2023, Namcor’s unaudited financial statements confirm the entity made an unprecedented net loss of N$700 million.