Namibia: Oil Search Taken to 'New Level'

Jo-MarÉ Duddy

25 November 2010

Oil and gas hunters UNX Energy Corporation has managed to raised N$400 million which will position the company firmly in the local energy race, director and well-known businessman Knowlegde Katti has said.

"I can confidently say that Namibia will soon become a player of note in the oil sector on the continent and UNX will help to reach that milestone for our country," Katti said in a statement on Monday.

UNX, formerly Universal Energy Corporation, has a 2,7 per cent working stake in blocks 1711A and 1711B in the Namibe Basin. Block 1711 could have natural gas reserves of up to 14 trillion cubic feet, former Mines and Energy Minister Erkki Nghimtina announced in Parliament last year. If so, 1711 would dwarf Kudu, believed to have about 1,3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. Recent exploration and analysis estimate that Kudu's reserves might be as high as three trillion cubic feet, with potential running up to nine trillion cubic feet though.

UNX's partners in 1711 are Sintez LLC/Nikor (70 per cent working interest), PetroSA (ten per cent working interest), EnerGulf Resources (ten per cent working interest) and Namcor (seven per cent carried interest).

Katti said the N$400 million will fund ongoing exploration activities in Namibia, including 3D seismic campaigns in the Orange Basin. UNX has a 90 per cent working interest in Blocks 2713A and 2713B in the Orange Basin.

Katti said he was "very upbeat" about the latest developments. "It takes the search for oil in Namibia to another level."

He said all of the money would be used to advance the scientific knowledge of the offshore blocks UNX holds to a "drill-ready state".

link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201011250893.html