Namibia's Accession to OPEC May Last Up to Seven Years

After decades of bad luck in exploration drilling off Namibia, two game-changing oil discoveries were delivered earlier this year. Shell's "Graff" field discovery was quickly followed by TotalEnergies' "Venus". Both are located in adjacent Orange basin blocks and were the first ultra-deepwater wells drilled anywhere offshore Namibia.

Andreas Simon, the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s spokesperson, stated that Namibia's accession process to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could take up to seven years, local news outlet reports.

He elaborated that before joining OPEC, Namibia needs to start producing, which can be possible “in next five to seven years”.

“It will take us some time because we are still at the preliminary stage. But what we can say is that there is oil found, especially along the Orange River,” Simon said.

According to the spokesperson, the assessments of the recent oil discoveries are still being completed, and the results are not available yet.

“They [TotalEnergies and Shell Plc] are also looking at whether there is an international market out there and how big these deposits are, and if we are to start extracting it, how many years could we pump this crude oil,” he noted.

Simon stated that if the discovered oil is determined to be commercially viable, the option of joining OPEC will be considered.

“It will not make sense that you are an oil exporting country and you are not part of OPEC. If you are not part of this body, you will always be on the receiving end,” he said.

The spokesperson explained that becoming part of OPEC is beneficial from the point of having stable market access, making more money and being among decision makers.

Simon pointed out that if his country starts producing oil, it will be no more dependent on the other oil producing states and at the same time will be able to provide other African countries with energy sources.

In late January joint venture partners discovered the Graff field, 45% of which belongs to the UK Shell and QatarEnergy each and the other 10% is linked to Namibia's state-owned NAMCOR. The next month, TotalEnergies found the Venus X1 field, 30% of which is owned by QatarEnergy, 40% - by the field's operator TotalEnergies, 20% - by Private Impact Oil and Gas and 10% belong to NAMCOR.

Shell’s Graff reportedly contains up to 500 MMbbl recoverable oil, while the TotalEnergies-operated Venus is said to be one of the largest fields discovered anywhere offshore Sub-Saharan Africa.

On October 10, Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi stated that Qatar's state-owned oil and gas company QatarEnergy intends to accelerate the development of Venus X1 and Graff oil fields.