Expert confident about oil reserves in Namibia

GEOLOGICAL samples taken by Brazilian experts between Keetmanshoop and Koës have revealed small traces of oil and gas, and a first report on the finds will be submitted to the Namibian Government next month.

“We had 15 specialists for two weeks in the Koës area and 200 samples were taken,” said Dr Marcio Rocha Mello, a Brazilian geologist and oil expert, conducting research for the newly established Namibian company Enigma Investments of Swapo Heinrich Ndume. “We found oil seeps and also gas seeps when drilling one metre deep into rock there,” Mello told The Namibian before his departure at the end of last week.”We have a technical advisory committee meeting in Brazil this week with Namibian Government officials from the Ministry of Mines and Energy,” Mello added.”The prospects are looking very good for onshore oil and gas, but we will have to wait for the final laboratory analysis.Test drills are the only way to find out if our samples and findings are correct.”Mello heads his own company, High Resolution Technology (HRT) in Rio de Janeiro, which employs 600 geologists and other specialists.”We are now establishing a subsidiary, HRT Africa, as we are now active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Namibia.We are currently setting up a laboratory in the DRC so that samples from Africa need not be transported across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil anymore.”Enigma has two onshore petroleum exploration licence blocks in south-eastern Namibia in the vicinity of Koës.Right next to them, a Croatian company recently also started preliminary tests for oil.Enigma Investments is based in Namibia and owned by Ndume, Portuguese investor Delecio d’Oliveira and Adonis Polaris, a Greek national.They formed another company, NamQuest, in April this year.NamQuest, with offices in London, will serve as their financial arm.Mello said Africa and South America were one continent eons ago and there are great similarities in the geological layers along the south-western coast of Africa and the east coast of Brazil.”The coastlines of Namibia, Angola and DRC are virtually a mirror image of the geology of Brazil’s east coast and offshore waters and my research has shown that oil resources could also be found here,” Mello told The Namibian.The world’s largest oil find of the past 30 years was made off the Brazilian coast two weeks ago.”I always said there were huge oil reserves, already when I still was with Petrobras, Brazil’s largest oil company.Now they found about eight billion barrels offshore in the Tupi field,” Mello said.Enigma also has three offshore exploration licence blocks in Namibia, one along the Skeleton Coast, another opposite Walvis Bay and one near Luederitz.Ndume and his two partners also have a share in Greendale Universal Holdings, a British outfit registered on the British Virgin Islands, which obtained two other licence blocks in Namibian waters at the end of 2005.Once HRT completes its scientific analysis by March 2008, Enigma will decide whether to drill a test well offshore, Managing Director Swapo Ndume said.”The problem is that oil rigs are fully booked internationally and new ones under construction are not yet completed.”Test drills in the Koës area would also be considered next year, Ndume said.”We found oil seeps and also gas seeps when drilling one metre deep into rock there,” Mello told The Namibian before his departure at the end of last week.”We have a technical advisory committee meeting in Brazil this week with Namibian Government officials from the Ministry of Mines and Energy,” Mello added.”The prospects are looking very good for onshore oil and gas, but we will have to wait for the final laboratory analysis.Test drills are the only way to find out if our samples and findings are correct.”Mello heads his own company, High Resolution Technology (HRT) in Rio de Janeiro, which employs 600 geologists and other specialists.”We are now establishing a subsidiary, HRT Africa, as we are now active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Namibia.We are currently setting up a laboratory in the DRC so that samples from Africa need not be transported across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil anymore.” Enigma has two onshore petroleum exploration licence blocks in south-eastern Namibia in the vicinity of Koës.Right next to them, a Croatian company recently also started preliminary tests for oil.Enigma Investments is based in Namibia and owned by Ndume, Portuguese investor Delecio d’Oliveira and Adonis Polaris, a Greek national.They formed another company, NamQuest, in April this year.NamQuest, with offices in London, will serve as their financial arm.Mello said Africa and South America were one continent eons ago and there are great similarities in the geological layers along the south-western coast of Africa and the east coast of Brazil.”The coastlines of Namibia, Angola and DRC are virtually a mirror image of the geology of Brazil’s east coast and offshore waters and my research has shown that oil resources could also be found here,” Mello told The Namibian.The world’s largest oil find of the past 30 years was made off the Brazilian coast two weeks ago.”I always said there were huge oil reserves, already when I still was with Petrobras, Brazil’s largest oil company.Now they found about eight billion barrels offshore in the Tupi field,” Mello said.Enigma also has three offshore exploration licence blocks in Namibia, one along the Skeleton Coast, another opposite Walvis Bay and one near Luederitz.Ndume and his two partners also have a share in Greendale Universal Holdings, a British outfit registered on the British Virgin Islands, which obtained two other licence blocks in Namibian waters at the end of 2005.Once HRT completes its scientific analysis by March 2008, Enigma will decide whether to drill a test well offshore, Managing Director Swapo Ndume said.”The problem is that oil rigs are fully booked internationally and new ones under construction are not yet completed.”Test drills in the Koës area would also be considered next year, Ndume said.