The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) says there is huge potential for more hydrocarbon or petroleum discoveries to be made in Namibia, with both land and offshore areas underexplored.
This was revealed by NAMCOR experts during a technical session on Namibia's Regional Petroleum Potential at the Namibia International Energy Conference in Windhoek today
During the session, the experts revealed that Namibia is home to four recognised offshore basins and two onshore basins, in which more than 30 exploration wells have been drilled to date.
Recent Venus-1 and Graff-1X discoveries by TotalEnergies and Shell, respectively, have confirmed a proven working petroleum system in Namibia's deepwater setting.
In a sideline interview with nbc News, the Manager of Markerting, Communication, and Public Relations at NAMCOR, Paulo Coelho, said there is still more room for exploration in these basins.
"When we say underexplore, it is because there is not enough funding to push these exploration projects, and remember, when we explore, we have to do it safely in an environmentally sustainable way, its not just digging a whole thing, but we need to consider what is around the environment and how we can leave it in good condition. There is a lot of potential in the hydrocarbon space because, when we look at hydrocarbons, we are mostly focusing on oil, crude and light. Referring to the two discoveries, total's one is quite deep and they have crude oil and than have the not-too-deep ones that are shallow and the quality is light commercial oil, which is quite sought after."
Currently, the national oil entity's key focus is to expand seismic data and geological understanding of its onshore and offshore basins.
"Namcor is the custodian of the resources in the country and how you sell them and how you get investors to come in and invest in the hydrocarbon possibilities and the petroleum exploration licences, and we do that by selling data, so there isn't a challenge with accessing the data, the challenge is with how you secure the data for various people, as this is a virtual room where people pay and they access the data."
Namcor is currently also undertaking extensive 2D seismic data reprocessing of 14,000 line- kilometres in the Lüderitz Basin.
"You have to understand that it runs within the same vein as the Walvis Bay and Orange Basin, so there is a large possibility for success there, it all depends on the data that we have so far."
NAMCOR currently holds 31 active exploration petroleum licences, one offshore production licence, and one reconnaissance licence, of which it operates five.