TOBIE Aupindi, former chief executive officer of Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), has joined the oil and gas exploration boom in the country.
Aupindi is the director of Hydrocarb, a US-based company that clinched an exploration licence for four blocks in the Ovambo basin. He is also the vice president of Hydrocarb’s local partner, New African Ventures.By entering the business, Aupindi has joined the club of wannabe oil magnates like Knowlegde Katti, Lazarus Jacobs and Desmond Amunyela.’This is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity,’ Petroleum Africa quoted Aupindi on its website yesterday.Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali last week told Parliament that Namibia is potentially sitting on nearly 12 billion barrels of oil and gas.Immanuel Mulunga, petroleum commissioner of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, told The Namibian that Hydrocarb got the exploration licence for Blocks 1714, 1715, 1814 and 1815 in the basin. The licence used to belong to Circle Oil, ‘but they didn’t do anything with it’, Mulunga said.According to Petroleum Africa, Hydrocarb’s licence covers a large tract that extends from the northern edge of the Etosha Pan to the border with Angola, and is ‘located over part of an extensive under-explored sedimentary basin’. The company said that independent reports have previously estimated the potential reserves in one identified structure within the license area to be of world-class potential, the website stated.Watts, Hydrocarb’s chairman and chief executive officer said the unrisked potential petroleum resources in the concession are already remarkable. ‘Our work in the initial exploration period will be focused on identifying the lowest risk prospects and drilling them as soon as practical,’ the website quoted Watts.Aupindi told Petroleum Africa that his company is ‘pleased to be working with highly experienced exploration veterans to realise Namibia’s potential to have world-class petroleum reserves’.
