(NEW ERA) Oil find in Maltahöhe - by Petronella Sibeene

Oil find in Maltahöhe - by Petronella Sibeene

WINDHOEK – Huge amounts of potential oil-bearing substrate have been found in the Maltahöhe district, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Joseph Iita, told New Era yesterday.

A seismic survey identified a source rock believed to contain about 200 million barrels of oil, a discovery if proven right, will see Namibia featuring among the oil producing countries of the world. This is an offshore discovery in the Mariental area of the Hardap Region.

Seismographic measurements over an area of approximately 6 400 square kilometres (Zaris Block) started end of 2007 and by March 2008, there were rumours of oil find in that area.

Iita said it is too early to determine how successful the dig for oil in the area will be by the Croatia oil exploring company INA Industrija Nafte. He was also confident this time Namibia could actually have oil flowing in the near future.

Drilling is penciled for early 2010 depending on the availability of a drilling rig.

The permanent secretary says it is time for Namibia to invest in data collection in fields such as these, as that would increase the country’s chances of knowing where there is potential for oil and gas deposits.

Namibia’s offshore basins are believed to be oil rich but few explorations have so far been done and the country doesn’t yet produce oil.

The ministry has since 1999 offered easy-going routines for international oil companies wanting to explore both onshore and offshore permits for oil and gas resources.

A Russian company Sintezneftegaz that early last year created so much hope in the energy sector that it would find gas and oil, released disappointing results three months ago.

It explored the well in Block 1711 of the Namib Basin.

The drilling company reported it encountered mishaps during the evaluation process for hydrocarbon potential and the reservoir quality of the tested zones was not very good, perhaps due to nearby igneous activity.

Although findings in this case revealed gas and condensates found in the well were not of commercial interest, Iita remains optimistic that one of the exploration companies will soon hit a discovery.