Staff Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NAMIBIA will need to rapidly expand its energy sector skills base to fully benefit from its emerging oil and gas industry, with a new report warning that the country currently has only about 45% of the skills required to support the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Energy Sector Skills Strategy Report \u2013 Namibia, launched by the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), outlines the workforce challenges facing the country as it prepares for large-scale offshore oil and gas developments in the Orange Basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report highlights that major discoveries by international energy companies, including Shell\u2019s Graff-1X well, TotalEnergies\u2019 Venus-1X discovery and Galp Energia\u2019s Mopane discovery, have positioned Namibia as a potential new global energy frontier. First oil production is expected around 2029 or 2030, with the sector projected to attract billions in foreign direct investment and significantly contribute to economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the report warns that Namibia\u2019s current skills base is insufficient to meet industry demands, creating a risk that citizens may not fully benefit from the country\u2019s natural resource wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the report, Namibia faces a mismatch between the skills produced by local education and training institutions and the specialised competencies required by the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While local graduates possess foundational knowledge in engineering and science fields, the country currently lacks dedicated degree programmes in specialised areas such as petroleum engineering, reservoir engineering, drilling engineering and subsea engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also identifies critical shortages at the vocational and technical level, particularly in areas requiring internationally recognised certifications, including coded welding to API and ASME standards, offshore safety qualifications such as Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) and Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), hazardous environment operations and specialised offshore catering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The construction phase of offshore infrastructure, which typically lasts between six and eight years, is expected to be the most labour-intensive period and could require hundreds or thousands of workers for deep-water developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To address the skills gap, the report proposes a national roadmap that includes establishing a National Oil and Gas Institute to coordinate specialised training, certification and curriculum development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It further recommends upgrading technical and vocational education and training (TVET) capacity through investment in industry-standard equipment and simulators at institutions such as the Namibia Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT), while encouraging the University of Namibia (UNAM) and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) to develop specialised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also calls for enforceable skills-transfer requirements, ensuring that foreign experts working in Namibia\u2019s energy sector provide structured training and knowledge transfer to Namibian workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some initiatives are already underway to prepare the workforce. The Petroleum Training and Education Fund (Petrofund) is supporting 77 scholarship beneficiaries and has sent 17 Namibians for specialised training in countries including France, Malaysia and Angola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, energy companies operating in Namibia are implementing localisation initiatives, with Galp reporting that 25% of its workforce is already Namibian. The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) has also entered partnerships, including memoranda of understanding with companies such as Subsea7 and Moneda Invest, aimed at strengthening offshore capabilities and supporting local businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report concludes that Namibia\u2019s ability to convert its oil and gas discoveries into broad-based economic benefits will depend on developing a skilled, adaptable and competitive local workforce through stronger cooperation between government, industry and academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photo: NIPDB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staff Reporter NAMIBIA will need to rapidly expand its energy sector skills base to fully benefit from its emerging oil and gas industry, with a new report warning that the country currently has only about 45% of the skills required to support the sector. The Energy Sector Skills Strategy Report \u2013 Namibia, launched by the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":398513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n