Namibia has become an oil and gas exploration hotspot, with some of the world’s biggest drilling rigs currently operating offshore in the Orange Basin.

Petroleum Commissioner Maggy Shino said that Namibia is making history as an oil exploration frontier with four rigs operating at the same time in the country’s waters.

She made this statement here on Wednesday at the start of the Namibia Oil and Gas Conference.

She said that the Deepsea Mira, Tungsten Explorer, Deepsea Bollsta, and Maersk Voyager are conducting appraisal and exploration drilling following major oil discoveries.

“Right now, history is being made in Namibia. For the first time, we have four drilling rigs operating in Namibian waters right now. They are operating in the Orange River Basin, trying to appraise for us to get the data we need to see how much oil we are able to flow to the surface to be able to produce commercially,” Shino said.

Energy major TotalEnergies has struck major oil and associated gas with its Venus-1 well, located 300km away, with an anticipated 2 billion barrels.

Shell and its partners have also found a significant amount of light crude oil with their Graff-1, La Rina-1, and Jonker-1 wells.

She said the appraisal process will take up to six months to determine the commercial viability of the discovery.

“We would then know the size of the oil accumulation and how much we can produce,” Shino said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency