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 NAMIBIA
West Africa
In 1974 the Kudu gas field was discovered by Namibia's
first offshore well but it has not yet been developed.
Rift basins are generally absent in Namibia south of the
volcanic Walvis ridge running east-west and roughly separating Namibia
from Angola to the north. There is no oil or gas production and few
operators and Namibia’s three relatively undrilled basins, Walvis,
Luderitz and Orange, have limited potential.
 The
only discovery is Kudu, found by Chevron in the southernmost Orange
Basin in shallow waters. So far Kudu has not been developed due to lack
of a gas market. In 2002 Shell and ChevronTexaco both withdrew because
the field had insufficient reserves to justify a floating LNG plant.
However, the new operator maintains that the 37 Bcm reserves are
sufficient to justify a development to supply the southern African
market and plans to hook up the field with a long distance subsea
tieback to a gas turbine near Oranjemund to generate electricity, mostly
for export.
It is drilling appraisal wells to delineate the structure
and, if these confirm significant reserves, gas could be sent to the
South African market, and/or to an LNG plant. If positive, the field
could be onstream by 2010. South Africa has been investigating the
feasibility of establishing a national gas pipeline grid, including gas
imported from Namibia as well as from Mozambique.
Elsewhere in Namibia Pancontinental signed a
Reconnaissance Licence in 2007, for an area 400 kms south of the Angolan
border over a wide range of water depths, joining other operators who
have licensed part of the Luderitz Basin, west of the town of Luderitz.
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