Namibia's road to first oil
Namibia is closer than at any point in its history to becoming an oil-producing nation. The country's first offshore development is moving towards a possible final investment decision (FID), the point at which an operator commits the capital to build and produce from a field.
That milestone follows nearly a century of exploration, beginning with a single well drilled in the arid south in 1928. From the dry hole at Berseba to the discoveries of Graff, Venus and Mopane in the Orange Basin, decades of geological surveys, seismic campaigns and persistent drilling have brought Namibia to the edge of becoming one of Africa's newest offshore oil producers.
The first well
The South West Africa Petroleum Corporation drilled Berseba-1 in the Nama Basin in 1928, reaching 1 009 metres. It found no commercial hydrocarbons, but it opened organised petroleum exploration in what was then South West Africa.
Progress stalled for decades. Geological data was scarce, techniques were basic, and Namibia's large sedimentary basins remained poorly understood.
Post-war exploration
Exploration accelerated through the late 1950s and 1960s as international companies expanded their geological work. Texas Eastern, operating through Etosha Petroleum Company, secured the first exploration rights over the Owambo Basin in 1959 and carried out extensive aeromagnetic and gravity surveys in 1962. It drilled Strat-Test-1 in 1964, then expanded geological, geochemical and seismic work across northern Namibia, adding three more wells between 1965 and 1970.
The Nama Basin saw renewed activity too. Artnell Exploration Company drilled Vreda-1 to 1,840 metres in 1963. De Beers and Shell/BP later held a concession further south, and De Beers gathered 360 line-kilometres of 2D seismic data around Berseba and Tses before drilling Tses-1 to 2,225 metres in 1968.
None of these wells produced a commercial discovery, but each significantly improved understanding of Namibia's onshore geology.
Moving offshore
Namibia's first offshore licensing round, in 1969, awarded eight blocks. A second round in 1972 awarded nine more.
Chevron, Regent Petroleum and Soekor spudded Kudu 9A-1 in the Orange Basin in December 1973; the discovery is dated to 1974. Lying roughly 130 kilometres offshore in about 170 metres of water, Kudu gave Namibia its first convincing evidence of a working offshore petroleum system.
It did not immediately progress to development. UN sanctions in the 1970s pushed international operators out, and technical, commercial and market hurdles repeatedly delayed the field.
Work resumed in 1987 and 1988, when SWAKOR — NAMCOR's predecessor — partnered with Halliburton to collect 10,600 kilometres of regional 2D seismic data, plus another 3,770 kilometres over Kudu itself. The partners drilled Kudu 9A-2 and Kudu 9A-3; the latter confirmed dry gas in Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs.
Independence and a new framework
Independence in 1990 brought a new regulatory footing for petroleum. The government passed the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act and the Petroleum (Taxation) Act in 1991, and established NAMCOR as the national oil company.
The first post-independence licensing round awarded five licences, to Norsk Hydro, Ranger Oil, Sasol, Chevron and Shell. A second round in 1995 gave Shell two further licences and extended its stake in Kudu.
Between 1991 and 1998, operators drilled nine offshore exploration wells, mostly on the continental shelf. None found commercial oil, but they intersected Cretaceous-age clastic and carbonate reservoirs and helped identify oil-prone source rocks in the Aptian and Cenomanian-Turonian intervals. Companies acquired more than 28,000 kilometres of proprietary seismic data and around 60,000 kilometres of multi-client data over the same period.
A new wave of explorers
An open licensing system introduced in 1999 drew fresh interest. Sintezneftegaz drilled Kunene-1 in 2008. Chariot Oil & Gas drilled Tapir South-1 and Kabeljou-1 in 2012. HRT drilled Wingat-1, Murombe-1 and Moosehead-1 in 2013. Repsol drilled Welwitschia-1 in 2014. Tullow Oil and Chariot followed in the Walvis Basin in 2018, with Cormorant-1 and Prospect S respectively.
None was commercially successful, but several confirmed reservoirs, mature source rocks and signs of a working petroleum system, while advances in 3D seismic imaging, basin modelling and ultra-deepwater drilling gave operators the tools to reach prospects earlier explorers could not properly see.
The Orange Basin breakthrough
The breakthrough came in February 2022. Shell announced the Graff-1 light-oil discovery on 4 February; less than three weeks later, TotalEnergies and its partners announced Venus-1X on 24 February, establishing the Orange Basin as a major new exploration frontier.
Shell went on to make further discoveries at La Rona, Jonker and Lesedi. Galp's Mopane campaign, launched in late 2023, confirmed light oil and gas condensate across several high-quality reservoirs. Rhino Resources later added Capricornus to the basin's growing tally. Galp continues exploration, appraisal drilling and seismic evaluation at Mopane as it works towards defining a development.
What comes next
The focus has shifted from proving oil exists offshore to proving it can be developed. Venus already has a defined development concept, and TotalEnergies and its partners are working towards a possible FID in 2026. Mopane is earlier in the process, with further exploration and appraisal wells needed before it can advance.
A positive FID would mark the point where nearly a century of exploration turns into construction, major engineering contracts, offshore infrastructure and, ultimately, production.
For decades, Namibia's petroleum industry was defined by geological promise rather than commercial success. That is beginning to change.
The country has demonstrated that it holds significant offshore resources. The task now is converting those discoveries into commercially viable developments — within a stable regulatory and fiscal framework, and with the infrastructure and investment needed to establish Namibia as an offshore oil producer.
