Brazilian company sparks hopes for barrels of oil

BRAZILIAN-OWNED oil and gas exploration company High Resolution Technology (HRT) hopes to produce 10 000 barrels of oil off per day the Namibian coast by 2013.

By 2020, they hope to increase the number of barrels to 350 000 per day, HRT Brazil chief executive officer, Marcio Rocha Mello, said Friday night when launched HRT Africa in Windhoek.HRT Africa is a division of HRT oil and gas Exploração e Produção de Petróleo Ltda in Brazil, with Nelson Narciso Filho as Chief Executive Officer of HRT Africa.Mello said his company aims to conduct exploration and production activities in 12 exploration blocks offshore Namibia, adding that it holds interests in covering an area of 63 891 square kilometres.He said the company will also operate in two blocks in the Walvis Sub-basin, and eight blocks in the Orange Sub-basin.’HRT has two per cent participating interest, as non-operator, in two blocks off the Lüderitz Sub-basin,’ he said.Mello also launched the HRT blue barrel project, which says every barrel produced by the company in offshore the country will donate N$ 1 to sustainability projects related to the marine ecosystem.This is the socio-environmental petroleum that generates energy, social welfare and environmental preservation.’We chose Namibia first in Africa because of its low political risks, and size of potential discovery,’ said Mello. He said Namibia has a stable economy and petroleum legal framework in place, adding that HRT has identified large-size structures that can hold hydrocarbon accumulations.HRT Africa has so far raised more than US$400 million (N$2,7 billion) to fund exploration activities in the country.The company has also already started with the process of recruiting local geologists and engineers, who will be sent to Brazil for training at the operations of HRT in that country. – Nampa

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