The head of QatarEnergy spoke about plans to accelerate the development of oil in Namibia

DOHA, Oct 10 – PRIME. Qatar’s state-owned oil and gas company QatarEnergy wants to accelerate the development of two oil fields that it, along with other partners, discovered off the coast of Namibia earlier this year, Saad al-Kaabi, the head of the company and State Minister of Energy of Qatar, said on Monday during a visit to Namibia, according to RIA Novosti. company press release.

“Negotiations during the visit focused on bilateral relations and cooperation between Qatar and Namibia in the field of energy and ways to further strengthen them. The negotiations also focused on the plans of QatarEnergy, as the largest international shareholder in the Orange Basin offshore zone and its partners in relation to the recently discovered significant deposits of Venus and Graff, including prioritizing development and further research.

Drilling is expected in 2023, he said, without specifying when production will begin at the two fields.

QatarEnergy owns a 30% stake in the Venus X1 field development joint venture, field operator TotalEnergies holds a 40% stake, Impact Oil and Gas holds a 20% stake, and Namibian state-owned NAMCOR holds a 10%. In the field, Graff Shell and QatarEnergy each own 45% of the shares, while NAMCOR owns the remaining 10%.

The commissioning of these fields could make Namibia, Angola’s southern neighbor, an OPEC member, another oil producer on the African Atlantic coast.

The companies have not yet reported on the volume of oil in the discovered fields.

Namibian Energy Minister Tom Alvindo told an oil conference in Dakar last month that foreign companies could begin production at new fields in the country in four years.