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Mantashe prays Namibian oil flows into South Africa


SOUTH African energy minister Gwede Mantashe has said he wishes Namibia’s recent oil discoveries stretched into his country so that the two countries could work together to bring new oil and gas production into the continent.

He said this ahead of the South Sudan Oil and Power 2022 Conference, which he and his delegation are attending today.

Global oil players Shell and Total Energies early this year announced oil discoveries offshore Namibia.

These discoveries were made near South Africa, and have attracted American company Chevron, which has been reported to be acquiring a majority stake in a block off the shore of Namibia, close to Total Energies’ Venus block.

“Namibia is our neighbour. We will work with Namibia and we are hoping that their oil will stretch into our own ocean. We are hoping to make a new discovery together and bring new oil and gas production into the continent,” said Mantashe.

The minister said his trip to the South Sudan conference was to accelerate the implementation of the standing memorandum of understanding of 2018.

“From there, we can build new opportunities, new developments and add value to the economy,” he said.

The minister further said, in the short term (2022-2023), he wishes to develop the oil block his country has agreed to work on.

Rocked by load-shedding, the minister further said the medium-to-long-term outlook for South Africa’s energy sector is that his ministry would be revisiting the integrated resource plan established in 2019.

Namibia imports energy from South Africa.

“There is pressure to transition to clean energy. However, our position is that we cannot be treated the same as Europe where we are told to switch off coal, for example. We must phase in and phase out. We must be able to have a combination of technologies, moving and transitioning from high carbon emissions to low carbon emissions,” he said.

The minister added that coal will be around for a long time, and oil and gas are going to be critical in the transition.

“Nuclear is one of the best options we have. Therefore, a combination of these technologies will be critical for our economy,” he noted.

Early this month, the Namibia Chamber of Mines second vice president George Botshiwe said importing energy from South Africa, which is load-shedding, is a risk that, if not attended to, could affect even mining operations.

The discovery of oil in Namibia, should Mantashe’s prayer be answered, could revive the region’s oil sector and could lead to the reopening of major refineries in South Africa, which have been closing over the past years.

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