- The African Energy Chamber (AEC) plans to establish an office in the country dedicated to promoting local content development efforts.
- The office will be the foundation for improving local content across the Namibian energy market.
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) plans to establish an office in the country dedicated to promoting local content development efforts. The AEC will engage with various stakeholders across the Namibian energy industry, including national and international oil companies, the government and service companies, utilizing a multi-tiered approach to scaling up local talent and capabilities. The office will serve as the foundation to which local content across the Namibian energy market can be improved, thereby significantly contributing to creating a globally competitive workforce in Namibia.
The establishment of the office could not come at a better time for the Namibian energy market. In 2022, the country witnessed its first two significant oil and gas discoveries made by global majors TotalEnergies and Shell in the Venus and Graff-1 wells, respectively. Potentially holding billions of barrels worth of reserves, these discoveries have made clear the sizable hydrocarbon resources available in the country’s offshore basins and have laid the foundation for widespread sectoral growth as new players flock to the promising market.
Following TotalEnergies and Shell’s discoveries, several other exploration campaigns have kicked off, with frontier explorers hoping to mirror the success of Venus and Graff-1. Canadian oil and gas explorer, ReconAfrica, is conducting upstream activities in the deep Kavango Sedimentary Basin in the country’s northeastern part. In contrast, independent French explorer Maurel & Prom is set to join the Namibian upstream drive with a potential five-well drilling campaign, kicking off with the spudding of the Aurora wildcat this year.