Hunt Overseas Oil Company is an affiliate of Hunt Oil Company, a privately held independent oil and gas firm based in Dallas, Texas, led by Ray L. Hunt.

The agreement was effective immediately upon signature of the Licence document by Immanuel Mulunga, the Petroleum Commissioner of the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

It will allow Hunt Oil to undertake reconnaissance activities for a period of 12 months until September 2005.

"At the end of the term of this licence and depending on the outcome of the reconnaissance activities, Hunt Oil intends to continue its exploration activities in Namibia by applying for an exploration licence over the same licence area," Mines and Energy Minister Nickey Iyambo, said in a statement.

The licence covers approximately 48,000 square kilometres of the offshore part of Namibia, west of the town of Luderitz.

The water depths in the License range from 200m to 3000m.

Although Namibia does not yet produce oil, the country's offshore basins are believed to be oil rich.

The Hunt Oil licence is the third that that the Namibian government has issued in the last 18 months.

The previous licences were issued to First African Oil Corporation and INA Industrija.

Iyambo said Namibia was looking forward to new applications later this year during its fourth promotional round which will be held in London and Houston on September 9 and 13 respectively.

Since 1999, the Namibian Government has offered easy-going routines for international oil companies wanting to explore both onshore and offshore permits for oil and gas resources.

So far, interest has been limited, despite the relative positive geological outlooks to find hydrocarbons in Namibia.

Offshore oil operations have also concentrated on the Namibian-Angola border, and Angola's state oil company, Sonangol, is heavily involved in these.

Eight blocks in the Namibe Basin, which straddles the maritime border between the two countries, are to be jointly explored and developed by Angola and Namibia.

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