The 7th edition of the Namibia International Energy Conference was officially opened on 23 April 2025 by the honourable Dr Elijah Ngurare, Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia, on behalf of her excellency Dr Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, President of the Republic of Namibia – a longtime proponent of the country’s energy sector. This year’s conference saw an attendance of over 1 000 delegates from all over the world including policymakers, captains of the oil and gas sector, energy stakeholders, investors and international partners.
Delegates at the NIEC 2025. Supplied by the Namibia International Energy Conference
Ngurare said Namibia was committed to good governance, local content and beneficiation to drive economic growth, building the county’s human capital and managing its natural resources collaboratively.
“Namibia is committed to creating an enabling environment where energy investment can prosper. We are streamlining regulatory processes, strengthening institutional coordination, and ensuring policy clarity to support timely and transparent decisions across the energy value chain. Our aim is to position Namibia as one of Africa’s most attractive and reliable destinations for energy investment — where partnerships are built on trust, accountability and shared long-term value.”
Ngurare added that Namibia was also committed to moving from discovery to production without delay, but with responsibility. “The next step will unlock the revenues needed to invest in infrastructure, diversify our economy, strengthen public services and uplift our people. Through a well-paced approach, we will ensure our natural resources create long-term opportunities for generations to come.”
Vision to become an energy hub
In terms of Namibia’s vision to become an energy hub, he said, “Our goal is to export power, strategic energy commodities and knowledge partnerships, while promoting regional integration and helping to reshape intra-African trade through energy-led industrialisation.”
In his welcoming remarks the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, Natangwe Ithete said that his Ministry was committed to advancing inclusive economic growth.
“Our goal is to manage our resources responsibly ensuring that their benefits reach all Namibians. Our country must move beyond being a resource exporter. It must become a hub of processing, innovation and manufacturing. By prioritising local content, we ensure broad participation across the energy value chain creating jobs and lasting value for citizens.”
The conference
In her welcome remarks, Rich Africa Consultancy CEO, founder and convenor of the Namibia International Energy Conference said, “The conference was born out of a desire to create a thought leadership platform that brings together thought leaders, industry pioneers, policy makers and investors to create a future where Namibia takes ownership of its energy journey. Namibia cannot afford to wait – it must lead the way. Today we are turning vision into action.”
Exploration for oil
Following the official opening, the first conference session kicked off with a presentation by Petroleum commissioner Maggy Shino unpacking Namibia’s exploration landscape and further opportunities for oil companies to expand or join the country’s exploration for oil.
“Every single resource that has been developed must be produced. For that to work we acknowledge that infrastructure needs to be built. We want to make sure that parts of Namibia, especially the Luderitz basin becomes an energy hub not only serving Namibia but also serving Africa and for it to become an energy gateway into Africa,” she said.
Shino called for collaboration, public-private partnerships and common solutions to build the infrastructure to serve the industry before the final investment decisions are made and emphasised a collaborative approach to local content. “There is a need for synergies so that projects that are sub-commercial can be put together with other projects and this is a conversation we are having with partners,” she said.
Having discovered abundant oil, Namibia now faces the next step of unlocking its energy potential. Oil and gas industry experts looked at key elements for Namibia’s energy development.
Victoria Sibeya, interim managing director, National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) said Namcor intended to invest in midstream and downstream activities. “Namibia has an energy mix policy so we need to produce oil and gas responsibly, minimising carbon emissions using the right technology,” she said adding that Namcor was committed to public private partnerships.
For Adriano Bastos, head of Galp Upstream, Galp Energia – Namibia needed to develop a mindset of broad collaboration in order to develop local content to a level that companies like Galp need to execute a project. In terms of local content, 25% of Galp’s workforce are Namibians and they are nationalising expats as part of the workforce. “In the future Namibia should create subsurface knowledge to ensure solutions for the future.”
Namibia has unique capabilities, for example its marine repair capability, but there is no capacity. The question then is, how do we work with the local fishing industry to develop this capacity, he inquired.
Justin Cochrane Africa Upstream Regional Research director at S&P Global Commodity Insights said, “The very first step is to have first oil. It is natural for the government to want to ensure that Namibia benefits from its own resources, but if you push Independent Oil Companies too hard for local content, efforts could come to nothing.”
Executive chair Africa Energy Chamber, NJ Ayuk noted, “Namibia must move with speed, produce fast and negotiate the best agreements, and once the first oil is produced, then bring in the others to play. Across the world there is a movement to stop countries from producing.” He also emphasised the need for local content to be developed.
Answering the question of what success looks like from a Namibian point of view, the panel listed profitable production, job creation, staying open to ongoing exploration, sustainable inclusive development and production of energy that is accessible, affordable and reliable.
To ensure that its citizens participate fully and benefit from the country’s oil and gas resources the government has put in place the National Upstream Local Content Policy, in addition to other local content regulations.
Answering the question: What foundational steps are needed to create a robust local content framework, Nillian Mulemi, CEO, Petroleum Training and Education Fund (Petrofund) said the framework provides the legal guidelines which are embedded in Namibia’s petroleum laws.
“Foundational steps are important. We should be able to co-ordinate what is taking place within the sector. There should be institutions to do this. As we move to production, all stakeholders have to come into play. I would like to see immigration active in supporting the oil and gas industry. The Ministry of Environment, the ports and all institutions have competent and dedicated personnel to support the oil and gas industry operators and service companies’ dedication to local content, open mindedness, voluntary compliance, hiring local personnel (and if they are not available, training them), and when contracts are unbundled and announced publicly, involving local communities and providing financial support so the private sector can participate,” Mulemi said.
Frank Cassulo, vice president, Chevron International Exploration Production, said Chevron’s mission was to safely and reliably deliver energy in a low carbon environment, “To do this competitively, local content is absolutely necessary. To compete over the long term, we have to have the ability to produce the lowest cost commodities in Namibia, and this is tied to local content.”
Providing insight into Shell’s development of local content, Suzanne Coogan, vice president for Shell Namibia, said in Namibia the company had commissioned a skills baseline study in conjunction with TotalEnergies to understand the current capabilities and what gaps exist – with a view to filling these gaps.
Investing in local communities and enterprises is an important part of the companies’ strategies, as this incentivises the communities in which they work. They have empowered 180 people through training and mentorship, out of which 40 individuals have received funding from Shell to open their own micro businesses.
Besides its oil discoveries, Namibia’s Kudu gas fields are expected to come into production in 2026. The country is also a leader in hydrogen energy and has enormous wind and solar potential. International renewable energy experts looked at how Namibia could capitalize on its energy mix.
Petrus Johannes, executive Regulation Electricity Control Board, said Namibia’s demand for power was below 700 Mega Watts. The country’s energy mix included 30% renewables, of which hydropower was the largest, while solar projects ranged from five to 20 megawatts and 60% of the country’s power was imported from neighbouring countries.
Kahenge Simson Haulofu, managing director, Namibia Power Corporation (NAMPOWER) said the current focus of the entity was growing the transmission network. “We have transmission highways connecting the country to southern Africa, but as much as we pride ourselves in being a transmission hub we have constraints and investment is necessary to reduce these. Furthermore, the constraints are not limited to Namibia, but are related to neighbouring countries, so we are not able to trade as much as we would like.”
Malcolm Ong, general manager International Business Shandong Energy Internet Development, said by 2025 they would be introducing T75 ISO Containers to deliver LPG and LNG into Namibia. They would be targeting the mining sector and other sectors that needed more power to increase productivity and efficiency to create in-country value for Namibia.
Goldwind Africa was building Namibia’s biggest wind farm which needed to be connected to the transmission system, said Hebren James, director, Business Development, Goldwind Africa. The oil and gas industry needs enormous energy support, green hydrogen needs huge power reserves, and this will come from wind power, solar and battery storage.
For more information visit https://www.nieconference.com/
Source: supplied by the Namibia International Energy Conference