In a meeting with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, Geingob also said that “Shell and Total Energies, together with the oil company, Namcor, and investors from Qatar, discovered hydrocarbons not far from South Africa, in the Orange Basin”. “This presents us with another opportunity for collaboration between our governments and the private sector in the oil and gas sectors,” he said, referring to three oil discoveries last year in the Orange Basin, off the southern coast of Namibia and on the border with South Africa. Geingob promised Namibians that these discoveries will bring prosperity and growth, after the difficult years the country's economy faced.
With an estimated production of 6.5 billion barrels of oil, the discoveries could earn Namibia between N$60 billion and N$95 billion annually in taxes and royalties.
The oil projects will generate more than 3,600 jobs at peak production and double Namibia's gross domestic product by 2040 to around N$636 billion.
For his part, Ramaphosa said that he and Geingob had agreed to have their agreements audited before the binational commission later this year.
“We advise that an audit of our legal instruments be carried out as we move towards the binational meeting”, said Ramaphosa.
Namibia and South Africa have over 100 bilateral agreements covering a wide range of sectors. This is because both presidents have been accused of using these instruments for personal gain.
Geingob was drawn into Ramaphosa's alleged illegal actions surrounding the cover-up of an undeclared theft of foreign currency at the head of state's neighboring farm.
