The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia , NAMCOR, is a legally enacted entity with limited liability under the Namibian Companies Act of 1973. The Government of the Republic of Namibia is its sole shareholder.
Under the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act of 1991 NAMCOR (Pty) Ltd has the right to carry out reconnaissance, exploration and production operations either on its own or in partnership with other organisations in the industry.
The Act further stipulates that NAMCOR, if required by the Minister of Mines and Energy, can carry out any process of refining, disposing of or dealing with petroleum.
Upstream
NAMCOR's main business is to ensure the optimum exploitation of Namibia 's petroleum resources and meaningful Namibian participation in resulting business developments in petroleum related exploration activities. The company also acts as advisor to the Ministry of Mines and Energy and assists it in monitoring the exploration activities of licensees.
Offshore Namibia can be considered under-explored. Only 14 exploration wells have been drilled so far in an area that covers more than 500,000km2.
Five of the wells are located in the Kudu Gas Field which has 1.4 TCF of proven reserves and an upside of 20 TCF.
Kudu is the only commercial hydrocarbon discovery in Namibia up to now.
The results of the other wells were encouraging in that excellent reservoir sequences, source rocks and seal were encountered.
This is an activity that requires the active selling or promotion of Namibian acreage to local and international oil exploration and production companies. Having identified prospects with potential for hydrocarbons and having carried out all necessary geological work required, such acreages are offered to local and international oil companies by holding bidding rounds in places such as London , UK and Houston , USA . The company attends important international oil and gas promotion conferences.
Advisory and Regulatory Role
The institutional role or function of NAMCOR is to actively promote the hydrocarbon potential of Namibia . In exercising this role the company is tasked with advising the Ministry of Mines and Energy on Policy issues regarding the petroleum industry and monitoring the petroleum activities of oil companies operating in Namibia .
Since independence, NAMCOR has facilitated the signing of several petroleum agreements with international oil companies. These agreements have been the result of four bidding rounds and an open licensing system which was adopted as an alternative to the closed bidding rounds.
In the period since independence, 18 exploration licenses and four reconnaissance licenses have been issued to local and international oil companies. A total of 14 offshore wells have been drilled of which seven are in the Kudu Gas Field. As a result of these exploration activities a sizable database on the petroleum geology and geophysics of several onshore and offshore basins of Namibia is in place. The database consists of data from the 14 offshore wells and 37,874 km 2D seismic. 3Dseismic was acquired and is part of the database on three of the blocks.
Downstream
Since 2003, NAMCOR has been an important, if not the most important player in the importation of petroleum products for Namibia and has fulfilled its mandate of delivering 50% of the country's petroleum product requirements.
NAMCOR looks at the downstream sector with renewed vision for future growth and has the overall objective to build the company into an integrated oil company that can compete on an equal footing on the international stage.
The future for the downstream sector in Namibia foresees ownership of storage facilities, penetration of commercial & retail markets and expansion into the export market in the sub-region.
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