Zorena Jantze
THE ownership of natural resources as well as the distribution of these natural resources to the benefit of all Namibians is a bone of contention as concerns continue to be voiced on the stake government has in mining ventures in the country.
The Executive Director of Mines and Energy, Simeon Negumbo, has defended the 10% stake Namibia’s national oil company, NAMCOR, has in two new oil discoveries made by TotalEnergies and Shell in Namibia’s Orange basin.
The first light oil discovery was in PEL0039 within the Orange Basin offshore Namibia. The joint venture announced a successful well result at the Graff-1 prospect 250KM offshore Namibia. PEL0039 is operated by Shell Namibia Upstream B.V with 45% equity, with the Joint Ventures (JV) partners being Qatar Energy, (45%) and NAMCOR (10%).
The second discovery of light oil was in PEL0056 (Block 2913B) announced by the joint venture between TotalEnergies which holds (40%) in the venture, Qatar Energy (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%) and NAMCOR (10%).
Negumbo explained that it should be taken into account that the 10% NAMCOR currently holds in the mining ventures is a carried cost as they are not required to spend money during exploration adding that this is a very costly exercise with drilling one well costing approximately USD 70 million.
He further noted that the Namibian government has numerous other exploration licences in which NAMCOR has a 10% stake as well.
In addition to this, he further noted that international companies are also required to give a 5% share to Namibian companies.
“NAMCOR has other licenses where they have a 100% ownership, and sometimes they sell off shares to combine efforts in exploration. It is a costly exercise,” Negumbo said.
He further noted that competition is also a key factor as the country is in competition with other countries when it comes to attracting Foreign Direct Investments.
“If you give them little, you may lose out, government also gets other income from these mining licences such as royalties made from total sales of oil, taxes and rent paid to the mining ministry,” Negumbo said.
