TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Patrick Pouyanne envisions Namibia experiencing an oil boom similar to Guyana’s, a July 18 Bloomberg report read. TotalEnergies SE, Shell Plc and Galp Energia SGPS SA, have made significant offshore discoveries with an 80% success rate since early 2022.
“We are preparing the country to be an energy hub for the region,” said Maggy Shino, Namibia’s Petroleum Commissioner, according to Bloomberg. The country could potentially double or triple its economy by 2027 as activity ramps up. TotalEnergies aims to approve its first development at the Venus field later this year.
Bloomberg highlighted Guyana’s rapid transformation into the world’s fastest-growing economy after major oil discoveries led by Exxon Mobil. Its production could reach 1.5 million barrels per day by 2029. Namibia can follow a similar path.
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Pouyanne predicts up to seven floating production vessels, each with a capacity of about 180,000 barrels per day, could operate in Namibia’s Orange basin. However, significant infrastructure development is needed first. Ian Thom, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd., noted Namibia requires extensive infrastructure to support oil projects, estimating the country’s recoverable resources at seven billion barrels of oil equivalent, a figure likely to rise following recent discoveries, Bloomberg reports.
Guyana and Namibia have similarities in their oil exploration paths. Guyana’s resources are estimated at more than 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Guyana’s is the accumulation of more than 30 discoveries in the Stabroek Block alone.
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Namibia’s discoveries were estimated to be the same up to August last year, by the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR). The estimate was spread over three finds, with TotalEnergies’ Venus-1X discovery accounting for nearly half. The Graff-X1 and Venus-X1 Namibia finds, according to Westwood Global Energy Group, share similarities with the Guyana-Suriname Basin. However, additional exploration success by Galp Energia, announced in January, could place the estimate higher.
Guyana and Namibia are expected to be pivotal exploration hotspots in the coming years.
