Big oil discoveries within the deep coastal waters off Namibia during the last two years are producing a wave of vitality investor curiosity within the nation’s hydrocarbon reserves – the latest finds doubtlessly turning it into certainly one of Africa’s prime petroleum producers within the coming years.
With an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil reserves confirmed thus far, the southern African state might be getting ready to a doubtlessly transformative vitality bonanza, since oil costs are at present excessive and prone to stay so for the foreseeable future. Preliminary discoveries might double the dimensions of the nation’s financial system by 2040, with oil manufacturing set to begin by 2030. However can Namibia keep away from the ‘useful resource curse’ that has plagued different hydrocarbon-rich African international locations?
With its appreciable mineral and steel wealth, Namibia has acquired some extractive trade experience over time. But the unprecedented scale of investor curiosity in hydrocarbons means the nation now wants to maneuver rapidly to develop the bureaucratic capability and institutional information essential to fulfill the calls for of more and more refined oil and gasoline buyers.
Though Namibia gained independence from South Africa over 30 years in the past, its establishments and administrative processes stay comparatively weak. Lots of the legal guidelines governing the extractive industries had been drawn up within the 90s and are – bluntly – insufficient, significantly compared with regional neighbours which have strengthened their regulatory frameworks lately (take Angola for example).
In apply this implies a number of various things: a scarcity of bureaucratic construction typically causes delays, but it surely additionally implies that buyers are confronted with a wide range of regulatory and operational dangers when finishing up routine enterprise actions, starting from negotiating licences to discovering native companions.
Till not too long ago, Namibia’s licensing and procurement framework for oil and gasoline belongings was primarily based on closed-door, direct negotiations. In addition to elevating transparency issues, the system has proved unable to take care of the inflow of buyers making use of to lease oil blocks or safe production-sharing contracts. This has led to a backlog, prompting the authorities in January to attempt to streamline the method, amid requires the creation of an unbiased upstream regulator.
These challenges apart, buyers face different, very sensible obstacles. The registration course of for an area subsidiary might be very protracted, involving a whole lot of backwards and forwards with BIPA, Namibia’s typically chaotic company registry. Data there are additionally not as clear or as updated as they need to be, leaving buyers unsure in regards to the identification and the integrity of potential, statutorily-required native companions. Extra usually, overseas firms are struggling to seek out companions of the appropriate calibre, with applicable ranges of expertise.
This was at all times going to be a problem given such a sudden surge in demand. However there are already indicators that a few of these providing their providers as native companions have extra political connections than they do related oil and gasoline expertise. And it’s at all times a possible purple flag when these companies are being really useful or promoted by native officers.
Encouragingly, there are indicators that Namibian authorities recognise a few of these points and try to deal with them. They don’t must look far to see how to not do it: to the north of Namibia, the likes of Angola and Nigeria proceed to pay a hefty value when it comes to corruption and mismanagement, stemming largely from the historic absence of applicable controls and efficient processes. Namibians are desperate to keep away from the identical destiny.
However the world has modified from the one Angola and Nigeria confronted on the peak of investor curiosity in these international locations practically three a long time in the past. A lot of the firms queuing as much as do enterprise in Namibia now are refined, risk-averse vitality companies with strict anti-corruption insurance policies and procedures. They’ve non-negotiable calls for for transparency and accountability. And if Namibia needs to change into a significant vitality participant, it won’t solely must make it simpler to do enterprise there, but in addition reassure buyers that they will make investments safely.
There are indicators that Namibia is shifting in the appropriate route. The federal government is reportedly making use of to affix the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – which requires members to reveal the small print of contracts and licenses. This comes amid native efforts to advertise helpful possession transparency and corruption danger administration in public our bodies. The strikes are an announcement of intent from the authorities, however they’ll want to maneuver additional and sooner if they’re to experience the wave of investor curiosity.
