Country: Namibia

Despite a very tight offshore rig supply market, 2023 might set a new 10-year high for Africa’s offshore drilling market as several development, infill, and exploration campaigns get executed this year. According to the Offshore Rigs Tracker released this week by Hawilti and the Caverton Offshore Support Group (COSG) Plc, over 30 rigs are already confirmed to be active offshore sub-Saharan Africa this year, with more in the pipeline. Angola will continue to dominate the market like it has for a couple of years. The country has six floaters already contracted until at least 2024. Based on its pipeline of brownfield and greenfield projects, it will continue to drive deep-water drilling activity until at least 2026. All international oil companies (IOCs) have active rigs in the country, especially TotalEnergies (3), Azule Energy (2), Chevron (1), and ExxonMobil (1). They are actively pursuing infill drilling campaigns and subsea tie-back schemes on their producing FPSO units, while targeting infrastructure-led exploration opportunities. “We continue to witness an upsurge in drilling activity offshore West Africa despite the offshore rigs supply getting tight,” said Capt. Ibrahim Bello, Managing Director of Caverton Helicopters. “More drilling contracts are currently in negotiations across the region for both exploratory and development drilling, which could make 2023 one of the biggest years for offshore drilling activity on the continent since the crisis of 2014.” Nigeria’s offshore industry is also maintaining the momentum of drilling activity it saw in 2022 with at least five offshore rigs scheduled to be active in the country this year. Shell’s subsidiary SNEPCO and TotalEnergies both have floaters mobilized for most of the year on their respective deep-water blocks, OML 118 and OML 130. However, most of Nigeria’s demand is for jack-ups in shallow water, driven by key players such as Chevron, First E&P, General Hydrocarbons, and Damas E&P. After Angola and Nigeria, the Republic of Congo and Gabon are the next most active offshore drilling destinations in sub-Saharan Africa. Both countries are seeking to mitigate their production decline with additional infill drilling, development drilling, and exploratory drilling. Several campaigns are currently taking place there, including exploratory drilling by Eni in Congo and CNOOC in Gabon. Across the rest of the continent, significant development and exploratory drilling campaigns are also on the table this year, including in Senegal and Namibia. While the former is drilling to start producing oil and export LNG, the latter has all the industry’s attention as both Shell and TotalEnergies seek to confirm significant oil and gas discoveries made in the Orange Basin. The Offshore Rigs Tracker Q1 2023 can be downloaded for free here.  

The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) has confirmed that the Jonker-1X well has discovered light oil within PEL 39 in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia. This is the third successful well in the license after the drilling of Graff-1 and La Rona-1 last year. PEL 39 comprises of Blocks 2913A and 2914B, operated by Shell along with partners Qatar Energy and NAMCOR. Shell resumed drilling with the Deepsea Bollsta in December 2022 and has the rig mobilized in Namibia until at least November 2023, Hawilti’s Offshore Rigs Tracker shows. “The Jonker-1X well was drilled to a total depth of 6,168 meters in a water depth of 2,210 meters. The acquired data is being evaluated while further appraisal is planned to determine the size and recoverable potential of the discovery,” QatarEnergy said. Shell is yet to make any official announcement on Jonker-1 or to confirm the estimated reserves it has discovered since 2022. Early industry estimates have assumed that Graff alone could hold 700 million barrels of recoverable oil and could be developed via a new FPSO and a possible FLNG solution.

Woodside Energy has entered into an exclusive Option Deed to enter into PEL 87 offshore Namibia, a deep-water block located north of recent discoveries made by TotalEnergies and Shell in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia. The License was awarded to Australian junior Pancontinental Energy in 2018. Since then, the company mapped a very large Saturn Turbidite Complex that may host several large internal hydrocarbon traps, some of which it has already mapped on 2D seismic. The deal reached with Woodside Energy provides for Woodside Energy to fund a $35m 3D seismic campaign over 5,000 km2 in addition to a cash payment of $1.5m to Pancontinental. In return, Woodside Energy has an exclusive option to become operator of PEL 87 with a 56% interest. Shall the company decide to exercise its farm-in option, it will drill the first exploration well and carry Pancontinental at 20% interest. Exploration activity is growing offshore Namibia where both Shell and TotalEnergies have rigs mobilized there for exploratory and appraisal drilling this year. Last October, Chevron entered PEL 90 just adjacent to PEL 87 and north of TotalEnergies’ Venus-1 discovery. The deal gives Woodside Energy the opportunity to grow its exploration portfolio in Africa after it entered Congo-Brazzaville in 2018. The operator is also in the process of commissioning the Sangomar Offshore Oil Project in Senegal with a projected peak production of 100,000 bopd.

TotalEnergies has decided to mobilise almost 50% of its global exploration budget to Namibia this year as it hopes to confirm a multi-billion barrels discovery on block 2913b within the Orange Basin. CEO Patrick Pouyanné made the announcement during the company’s 2022 Results & 2023 Objectives presentation this week. The French major will spend $300m on appraising its Venus discovery in the Orange Basin with the mobilization of two drilling rigs and the drilling of several wells. Hawilti’s Offshore Rigs Tracker shows that the Tungsten Explorer is finally on its way to Namibia where it is expected to start drilling this quarter. The drillship will start with the Venus-1A appraisal well before moving to drill new exploration wells into the adjacent Block 2912, also operated by TotalEnergies. Drilling on that second block will target the Nara-1 well and a potential Nara-1A appraisal well, which will both include drill stem tests (DSTs). The second rig, Deepsea Mira, is not expected before the middle of this year and will be mobilized for DSTs operations both at Venus-1A and Venus-1. “We want to accelerate the time to market (…) if we confirm the volumes discovered, there is room for a fast-track development,” Pouyanné added, explaining that the company could be at the helm of a new golden block that would be “a new chapter of the old business”. TotalEnergies hopes to replicate the tremendous success it has had on Block 17 offshore Angola, where it was able to start producing only five years after its initial discovery there. Block 17 is referred to as its “Golden Block” with a total of four floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels commissioned between 2001 and 2014.

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas has announced that its shallow water Gazania-1 well within Block 2B offshore South Africa did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons. The well was the fourth one to be drilled this year in the Orange Basin following Graff-1 (Shell), Venus-1 (TotalEnergies) and La Rona-1 (Shell). Gazania-1 is the only disappointing one so far. Gazania-1 was considered to be a near-term low-risk well, and its prospect’s size had best estimate prospective resources of 300 million barrels. More importantly, the well had a 60% chance of success and targeted an updip section of the already discovered A-J reservoir, along with overlapping potential reservoirs. “Gases normally associated with light oil were encountered throughout the drilling of the Gazania-1 well. This, in our view, confirms the active hydrocarbon system, proven by the A-J1 discovery well in 1988, extends to the part of the basin where the Gazania-1 well is located. Further seismic interpretation will likely lead to the definition of viable areas for trapping downdip of Gazania-1 closer to the 1988 oil discovery A-J1,” Eco Atlantic COO Colin Kinley said in a statement. But this is just the beginning for drilling in the Orange Basin, which straddles both Namibia and South Africa. In Namibia, Shell is about to resume drilling on PEL 39 where it has already discovered oil & gas earlier this year at Graff and La Rona. The Deepsea Bollsta has been contracted for the campaign set to start by the end of 2022 and last for a year. Meanwhile, TotalEnergies is expected to start appraisal drilling soon around Venus in Namibia which could be the biggest African discovery ever made. In South Africa, the French is also planning several key exploratory wells in 2023 and 2024 on Block 5/6/7 and DWOB. Meanwhile, Eco Atlantic itself will be part of another exploratory drilling campaign next year on two wells within Block 3B/4B, operated by Africa Oil Corp and where the un-risked prospective resource is estimated at over 3bn barrels of oil and liquids and over 1.3 Tcf of gas.

Reconnaissance Energy Africa has announced that’s its first wildcat onshore Zimbabwe, the Makandina 8-2 well, has been a geological success but failed to show commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. The well reached total depth in mid-August and confirmed the presence of a working petroleum system by encountering intervals rich with methane and hydrocarbon gas liquids such as ethane, butane, and propane. “Although geologically a successful well, economic accumulations of hydrocarbons were not encountered,” ReconAfrica said in a statement. The company is now proceeding with its plans for the second well, Wisdom 5-1, whose spudding is expected in mid-December. It is also extended its 2D seismic acquisition programme with an additional 1,500 linear km approved to be acquired between November 2022 and April 2023.

The state-owned national oil companies of Qatar and Namibia, QatarEnergy and NAMCOR E&P, have signed a Cooperation Agreement in Doha to deepen the energy cooperation between both countries. Under the agreement, QatarEnergy will support NAMCOR E&P in the development of a sustainable upstream oil and gas sector in Namibia, notably by providing training and human capital development opportunities to NAMCOR employees. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the two companies also agreed to work together on investment opportunities of mutual interest in Namibia’s upstream oil and gas sector. QatarEnergy is already a key investor in Namibia’s oil & gas sector. The company has a 40% non-operated interest in PEL 39 where Shell just announced the Graff-1 discovery, and a 30% non-operated interest in Block 2913b where TotalEnergies just announced the Venus-1 discovery.

TotalEnergies, who has a 40% operated interest in block 2913b within Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 56, has confirmed that it has made a major light oil discovery at the Venus-1X well. The discovery was also officially confirmed this morning by its co-venturers Impact Oil & Gas and Namibia’s state-owned oil company NAMCOR. Venus was one of the most anticipated well in the world last year and was spudded in December 2021. Rumours have been circulating for a week now that a massive discovery has been made, with a potential find of well over 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. While no official confirmation has been given yet on the size of the discovery, Impact Oil & Gas has announced that the find contains light oil and associated gas and constitutes a world-class discovery that exceeded pre-drill expectations. ““A comprehensive coring and logging program has been completed and will enable the preparation of appraisal operations designed to assess the commerciality of this discovery,” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at TotalEnergies.  The discovery lies in the deep-waters of the Orange Basin in southern Namibia, where Shell also announced this month an oil discovery at the Graff-1 well on PEL 39. “The Venus well was drilled to a total depth of 6,296 metres by the Maersk Voyager drillship, and encountered a high-quality, light oil-bearing sandstone reservoir of Lower Cretaceous age, with 84 metres of net oil pay,” Impact Oil & Gas said. Block 2913b is operated by TotalEnergies EP Namibia B.V (40%) along with its partners QatarEnergy (30%), Impact Oil and Gas Namibia (20%), and Namcor (10%). Details on the block are available in the Hawilti+ research terminal.

The South Atlantic continental margins of Africa continue to fuel investors’ appetite as their promising prospects open up to oil & gas exploration. Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, the Canadian independent with assets in Guyana and Namibia, has just announced its acquisition of 100% of Azinam to consolidate its portfolio in the region, including in Namibia and South Africa. The company announced this morning the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire Azinam Group Ltd, in return for a 16.65% equity stake in the enlarged group n completion of the transaction. Under this new deal, Eco Atlantic is expected to close the acquisition of Azinam’s entire offshore asset portfolio in Namibia and South Africa by the end of January 2022. The agreement provides for a consideration in the form of new common shares to Azinam Holdings Limited who will own 16.65% of the enlarged Group. The licenses in which AziNam has working interests represent some of the most promising exploration assets in South Western Africa, with several drill-ready prospects that could yield future world-class discoveries. Gaining exposure to South African exploration opportunities These notably include a 50% operated interest in the Block 2B where the Gazania-1 exploratory well is expected to be spudded in the second half of this year. “Discussions are already underway with Eco’s key existing stakeholders in relation to underwriting the funds required to participate directly in the 2022 Block 2B South Africa drilling programme.” Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, 10 January 2022 The drilling location for Gazania-1 will test both the Namaqualand (1,840m) and Gazania (2,040m) Prospects. Gazania is an up-dip of the proven A-J1 oil discovery and has Best Estimate Prospective Resources of 300mbarrels. Also in South Africa, Eco Atlantic will gain Azinam’s 20% working interest in the deep-water 3B/4B Block operated by Africa Oil Corp. (AOC). AOC is notably an equity investor into Eco Atlantic and owns 18.7% of the company’s shares. Recent data acquisition and interpretation from Block 3B/4B has allowed current partners to identify an inventory of leads and prospects out of which Wolf, previously known as Aardwolf, could be subject to exploratory drilling in the near future. Finally, Eco Atlantic will also enter the Nearshore Block 3B/4B where Azinam is operator with a 51% interest. Consolidating Namibia’s exploration portfolio In Namibia, Eco Atlantic is de facto consolidating its interest in licenses it already operates and is familiar with. Azinam is Eco Atlantic’s partner on petroleum exploration licenses (PEL) 97, 98 and 99 that were re-issued in 2020 with the establishment of a new 10-year life cycle (4 + 2 + 2) for each. During the first exploration period of four years, Eco Atlantic notably plans to shoot 3,000km of 2D seismic and 7,750 km2 of 3D seismic in different surveys across the blocks. Upon completion of the Azinam acquisition, Eco Atlantic will have increased its operated working interest in those blocks to 85%. It notably estimates that 2.362 billion barrels of oil equivalent of prospective P50 resources could be held within these four areas, which cover a total of over 28,500 km2. The acquisition announced today is one of many deals that have marked exploration activity in Namibia and South Africa in recent years. Several prospects are currently being drilled in the Orange Basin, including Venus-1 (TotalEnergies) and Graff-1 (Shell) in Namibia. “The deal is expected to complete by 31 January 2022 subject, inter alia, to the signing of a Share Purchase Agreement and satisfactory completion of due diligence by Eco and any requisite approvals.” Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas, 10 January 2022 More details on Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas and Azinam along with the exploration activity on PEL 97 and Blocks 2B and 3B/4B are available in the “Companies” and “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

The Valaris DS-10 drillship has spudded the Graff-1 well within Block 2013A (Petroleum Exploration License 39) offshore Namibia. Shell Namibia Upstream BV is operator with a 45% along with partners Qatar Petroleum (40%) and national oil company NAMCOR (10%). Namibia’s PEL 39 has been owned by Shell since 2014 when it acquired Signet Petroleum’s interests in both blocks 2913A and 2914B. It covers about 12,000 km2 on the Namibian/South African maritime border, within the Orange Basin, and remains one of the most prospective acreage in Southwestern Africa. Just two weeks ago, TotalEnergies spudded the Venus-1 well in its block 2913b, also located in the deep-waters of the Orange Basin. Both wells, if successful, could open up a brand-new hydrocarbons province offshore Namibia. Once the Valaris DS-10 completes Graff-1, it is expected to be deployed in the Gulf of Guinea to drill the Jaca-1 exploratory well. The well is located in the Galp-operated Block 6 offshore São Tomé-e-Principe, where Shell is a technical partner. It will be first well to be drilled in the deep-water Rio Muni Basin.

Independents and international oil companies (IOCS) have finally spudded several much-awaited exploratory wells in Africa this quarter. They signal the resumption of exploratory drilling activity, in a continent that remains heavily under-explored. While Eni has led exploratory efforts this year so far with three discoveries in Angola (Cuica), Ghana (Eban) and Côte d’Ivoire (Baleine), additional operators have now taken the lead in hopes of closing 2021 with even more success. Bamboo-1X, FAR, The Gambia Drilling commenced in mid-November at Bambo-1 offshore The Gambia. Operator FAR Ltd is targeting three key prospects there: Soloo, Bambo and Soloo Deep. Resources are estimated at a maximum of 1.118 billion barrels and chances of success range between 7% to 37%. Drilling is executed by Stena Drillmax Ice. In case of a discovery, FAR has indicated that 90m barrels would be the set minimum economic field size. Its success case planning relies on a development of 150m barrels of oil via a 48,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Three wells would then support production, gas and water injection operations. FAR is operator with a 50% working interest in the A2 and A5 permits with its joint venture partner, PC Gambia Ltd (50%), a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS). Jove Marine-1X, Petronas, Gabon Petronas spudded the Jove Marine-1X well in block F13 offshore Gabon in early November 2021. The Malaysian national oil company hopes to replicate its 2018 success with its nearby Boudji discovery. Drilling is executed by the Maersk Viking. Jove-1X is testing a four-way dip closure in the pre-salt Gamba and Dentale formations in the distal portion of the Lower Congo Basin. A discovery there would be welcomed news for Gabon after disappointing results from BW Energy’s exploration campaign earlier this year in the same area. Ondjaba-1X, TotalEnergies, Angola Activities at TotalEnergies’ Ondjaba prospect in Block 48 offshore Angola started back in October 2021. The well was drilled by the Maersk Voyager, which has since then moved to Namibia where it is currently drilling the Venus prospect. The Ondjaba-1 exploratory well was expected to reach 3,628m, setting a new world record. Block 48 is operated by TotalEnergies (40%) along with Angola’s national oil company SONANGOL (30%) and Qatar’s national oil company Qatar Petroleum (30%). Venus-1X, TotalEnergies, Namibia Venus-1X was spudded earlier this week offshore Namibia within Block 2913b, by the Maersk Voyager. The well will target an enormous middle Cretaceous basin floor fan at the toe of the Orange river delta, targeting a potential of 1 billion barrels of oil. Venus is one of two wells that, if proved successful, would significantly transform Namibia’s energy landscape and economy. Block 2913b is operated by Total E&P Namibia B.V. along with Qatar Petroleum (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%), and NAMCOR (10%). Graff-1X, Shell, Namibia November also marked commencement of exploratory drilling on PEL 39 offshore Namibia. The license is held by Shell and contains the Graff prospect. Like Venus, Graff is located within the Orange Basin and close to the South African maritime border. The Valaris DS-10 is mobilized for the campaign and is expected to then move to São Tomé-e-Principe to drill Jaca-1X on Block 6. PEL 39 is operated by Shell Namibia Upstream BV (45%) along with partners Qatar Petroleum (40%), and NAMCOR (10%). Sibiri-1X, Seplat Energy, Nigeria Last but not least, Seplat Energy is targeting the 78m barrels Sibiri prospect on OML 40 in Nigeria. The Sibiri exploratory well (previously known as Amobe) is one of the few exploration prospects being drilled in the country this year and is expected to help further increase the resource base on OML 40 where the wells on the Gbetiokun field are currently producing a peak of 12,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). Preparatory activities for drilling of the high-impact prospect have been ongoing for a while. According to Seplat Energy, Sibiri carries a risked best estimate gross prospective oil resource of 78m barrels. The operator has already evaluated several options to accelerate the development of the discovery and achieve first oil in the event of exploration success. OML 40 is operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC, 55%) along with its partner Elcrest Exploration and Production Company Limited (Elcrest, 45%). Elcrest is itself a Joint Venture between Eland Oil and Gas (Nigeria) Limited (45%) and Starcrest Nigeria Energy Limited (55%). Seplat Energy acquired Eland Oil and Gas in 2019.

The 7th generation drillship Maersk Voyager has spudded the Venus-1 well within Block 2913b offshore Namibia. The block is operated by Total E&P Namibia B.V. (40%) along with its partners Qatar Petroleum (30%), Impact Oil and Gas (20%), and national oil company NAMCOR (10%). Namibia’s Block 2913b is located in the ultra-deep waters of the Orange Basin and at the maritime boundary with South Africa. Its Venus prospect is believed to be one of Africa’s most promising offshore prospects and could result in a multi-billion barrels discovery. The well will target an enormous middle Cretaceous basin floor fan at the toe of the Orange river delta, targeting a potential of 1 billion barrels of oil. Venus-1 is one of two very important exploratory wells being drilled offshore Namibia in Q4 2021. The second one is Graff-1 on PEL 39, operated by Shell Namibia Upstream (45%) along with its partners Qatar Petroleum (40%) and Namcor (10%). Valaris was selected to execute the drilling campaign at Graff. Details on Block 2913b and PEL 39 exploration are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

BW Energy has just signed an agreement with Aquadrill LLC to acquire the semisubmersible drilling rig “Leo” for a total consideration of $14m. Surprisingly, the rig is not to be used for the company’s flagship Gabonese nor Brazilian assets, but for the development of the Kudu gas field offshore Namibia. The acquisition of the “Leo” drilling rig follows indeed a new revised development plan for Kudu under which BW Energy plans to use a repurposed semisubmersible drilling rig as a Floating Production Unit (FPU). 1.3 Tcf of Gas Within Namibia’s Sole Production License Despite about 1.3 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas discovered and its ability to transform Namibia’s energy sector and resolve the country’s energy crisis, the Kudu gas field has remained undeveloped since its first discovery by ChevronTexaco in 1974. Located 170 km off the coast of Namibia, Kudu has been subject to substantial drilling with seven appraisal wells drilled since its discovery: two by Swakor in 1987 and 1988, four by Shell in the 1990s, and one by Tullow Oil in 2007. The field has had several operators as well since it was discovered: ChevronTexaco was followed by Swakor in the 1980s then Shell in the 1990s, then Energy Africa in the 2000s before the company was acquired by Tullow Oil in 2004 which led to the issuance of Production License 001 in 2005. In the more recent past, Gazprom and national oil company NAMCOR took over the field for a short while in 2010 and 2011 (Production License 002) before operatorship was given back to Tullow Oil in 2011 (Production License 003). The British multinational finally withdrew with its Japanese partners in 2014, and BW Energy has been operator since 2017 with a firm intention to bring the project to final investment decision (FID). From the inability of parties to agree on a gas price to delays in obtaining governmental support packages and finalising costs, several factors have contributed over the years to constantly reschedule the project’s FID. BW Energy Take Over and Revives Namibia’s Gas Ambitions When BW Energy acquired the field in 2017, Kudu was estimated to contain 1C contingent resource of 755 billion standard cubic feet (Bscf), with 2C contingent resources estimated at 1.33 Tcf and 3C ones at 2.3 Tcf. The development of the field still calls for the establishment of an integrated upstream-midstream-downstream venture to produce gas via a floating production unit (FPU) before exporting it to shore to generate electricity. While initial plans envisioned a gas-to-power plant of up to 885 MW, the facility is expected to finally have half that capacity if commissioned. The latest Contingent Resources Report prepared by ERC Equipoise Ltd for BW Energy in January 2020 notably estimates gross contingent gas resources at 587 Bscf, enough to justify a 440 MW gas-to-power plant. Full details on the Kudu Gas Project are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

by Hage G. Geingob, President of Namibia, Office of the President of Namibia for the World Economic Forum Namibia launched its Second Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPPII) in March 2021. The country is on course to develop a green and blue economy as articulated under the economic advancement pillar of the plan. By electrifying key parts of its economy, the Namibian government will spur unprecedented economic activity and growth for citizens. In March 2021, as I launched Namibia’s Second Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPPII), I reflected on the need to emphasize the importance of multilateralism in our efforts to foster an enduring economic recovery. Namibia’s policy on international relations and cooperation is anchored in multilateralism because our very independence was a product of international solidarity. We are a nation that was midwifed by the United Nations. It is for this reason that as we crafted our green economic recovery plan; we knew that it had to build a more sustainable future for our children and their children. Namibia is a small, open economy that is impacted by independent intervening variables, including climate change and its disruptive consequences. Our economy is heavily reliant on the agricultural sector, which employs more than 20% of our labor force. Namibia experiences recurrent droughts, the most recent of which have been recorded as the worst in history. These droughts can be linked to climate change, which according to the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, is unequivocally a man-made phenomenon. Therefore, Namibians must play a role in crafting climate-change solutions, not just for the sake of our citizens, but indeed for the global community at large. Accordingly, Namibia is poised to tackle climate change, by establishing a green economy that will drive our economic recovery as envisioned for African countries by African Heads of State during the launch of the African Union Continental Green Recovery Action Plan. In this context, we have ambitious plans to develop green and blue economies as articulated under the economic advancement pillar of our HPPII. The feasibility of these plans is underscored by the abundant availability of sunlight throughout the year and proximity to billions of cubic meters of seawater and vast marine resources in the Atlantic Ocean. We have the potential to capture around 10 hours of strong sunlight per day for 300 days per year. As a result, Namibia has some of the highest solar irradiance potential of any country in Africa, which is sufficient to provide power for our people and our neighbours. It is with this potential in mind that we have entered into a partnership with the Government of Botswana and the United States – under the auspices of USAID’s Power Africa – which culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Intent in April 2021. With support from the global community, we intend to utilize the abundance of sunlight to produce solar power for our own benefit and for our neighbours. The generation of solar power will complement Namibia’s available green energy portfolio, such as hydro-electricity, which already constitutes more than two-thirds of our installed power capacity. Electrifying key parts of our economy and of our neighbours will spur unprecedented economic activity and growth for Namibia and Southern Africa. A Green Hydrogen Economy It is well known that clean electricity is not available in sufficient quantities to adequately supply global demand. This challenge was underlined in the Net Zero by 2050 report published by the International Energy Association (IEA), which noted that hard-to-abate sectors – like cement, steel and chemicals, road trucking, container shipping, and aviation – will need green hydrogen if the world is to remain on course to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Namibia is better-positioned resource-wise, as well as having the political will to answer that clarion call. To produce green hydrogen competitively a country would need world-class transmission infrastructure, international port facilities, world-class wind and solar resources, access to sustainable sources of clean water (without displacing existing consumers), lots of land and a conducive legislative environment. These are all ingredients that Namibia has. Already, our country is home to the largest desalination plant in Southern Africa, meaning that the conditions for producing abundant clean water in a desert country are conducive. Once Namibia has successfully incubated the green hydrogen economy, it will enable the country to become a supplier of energy, rather than an importer. Judging from the scale of the initial proposals submitted to Namibia by interested investors, these renewable projects, relative to the size of Namibia’s economy, will be greatly transformative to the Namibian economy. Currently, at its peak, the economy consumes about 640 megawatts of power per annum whereas the proposals presented to government entail investments that could produce 10 times that amount of peak generation capacity in the next 10 years. But Namibians will not have to wait until 2030 to start enjoying the benefits of our green revolution because construction of the pilot plants will begin within the next 12 months. A New Frontier The required infrastructure for power trading already exists. About 40% of Namibia’s power currently comes from South Africa and is primarily driven by coal-fired power plants. We imagine a reality where Namibia exports clean energy to South Africa thereby assisting the Southern African region to decarbonize. Namibia also boasts world-class port infrastructure in the cities of Luderitz to the south, and Walvis Bay to the east. Renewable electricity, and green hydrogen and its derivatives, provide Namibia with a real opportunity to attract meaningful foreign direct investment, create well-paying jobs, further diversify its export basket, and improve its terms of trade. Therefore, the development of a green and blue economy, as well as a green hydrogen industry, are some of the cornerstones of the HPPII. As Namibia embarks on this new frontier, it is imperative that its vision of shared prosperity on the national, regional and global levels is realized. Meaning that we do not neglect those without access to political and economic power today nor exclude those who currently rely on carbon fuels. COVID-19 has already widened the existing chasm of inequality, a scourge Namibia is all too familiar with.