Namibia's Regulatory Model Fuels Africa's Next Oil Boom

Namibia is rapidly emerging as Africa's next major oil producer due to its stable regulatory model, while neighboring South Africa struggles to develop its own offshore petroleum province.

The Orange Basin, which spans the Atlantic maritime border between Namibia and South Africa, is estimated to contain more than 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Namibia has attracted a succession of world-class discoveries and moved rapidly toward commercial development, with TotalEnergies' Venus Project targeting an initial production capacity of 150,000 barrels of oil per day by 2030.

TotalEnergies has also taken over operations of the massive Mopane discovery from Portugal's Galp Energia, while Shell Plc and its JV partners reported a major oil discovery at the Merlin-1X exploration well with recoverable reserves estimated at 750 million barrels for Phase 1.