By:Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
Namibia will look into a proposal by Angola for the country to buy a stake in the planned Lobito Refinery, according to the updates from the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The Ministry spokesperson Andreas Simon said this when he updated the media on the country delegation that took a trip to Angola as per recommendation from the last visit of Diamantino Azevedo, Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas of Angola.
The delegation, led by the deputy minister of mines, Kornelia Shilunga, has indicated that they will be signing various Memorandum of Understandings, and will also listen to Angola Lobito Refinery’s equity offer.
“Also discuss/listen to their proposal for the Namibian Government to own shares in the Lobito Refinery,” the ministry updated.
The news has come after countless questions from the public on why the country/Namibia cannot buy from Angola were posed; furthermore why it did not invest in a refinery and decided to build a storage facility.
The construction work of the Lobito Refinery is expected to be concluded in 2026.
As for the Namibians that reside at the northern borders, they have resorted to a different market of trading oil through different channels; bypassing the fueling station – a system which has been referred to as Ngungula Service due to the running involved.
The Ngungula Service led to the government deploying police forces to try and curb the trading of Angolan oil.
News started early this year on the Lobito Refinery, with the Zambian government showing interest in buying a stake, while the Namibian counterparts have remained mum.
Only now after the delegation to Angola, has the ministry responsible for energy matters publicly indicated that they will now listen to the offer.
Despite the public declaration, the ministry has also indicated that there is nothing concrete yet as no commitment has been made as they are yet to study the specifics of the proposal, adding that the proposal will be presented to the country’s highest decision-making body, which is Cabinet.
“We will not commit to anything because specifics such as the conditions of such acquisition, the benefits and requirements need to be understood and presented to Cabinet for approval,” wrote the ministry.
Therefore, the Deputy Minister and her delegation will be split in two, comprising a group that is looking at learning from the Angolan counterparts relating to matters of oil and gas, while the other looks into the diamond industry.
The delegation intends to look at what learnings Namibia can get from the Angolan counterparts in as far as skills in the oil and gas sector are concerned, and also in terms of the legal framework, the nature of policies that guide them, and the type of models Angola makes use of in the sector.
According to Simon, “We have also come to see who the main players are (the oil companies that are housed here, the service companies, etc) and also to understand what sets Angola apart from other producer countries in Africa.
This is given that Angola has been a producer country even during its time of apartheid, with companies that are operating for over 70 years.
The second group will be looking at the diamond cluster in Angola.
On the diamond side of things, the delegation will visit companies such as Endiama, Sodiam, and ADPA, and to understand the Angolan diamond value chain as a benchmarking exercise.
“Most importantly we want to visit their diamond hub to understand fully what they do there. We expect to see the value chain housed there from upstream to the very end of downstream,” said Simon.
The working group expects to see Government offices, diamond mining companies, sorting houses, cutting and polishing firms, sales, and marketing entities, logistics companies, and security companies such as G4S, Melkamin, and Brinks Security.
Namibia plans to establish its diamond hub, stated the mine’s ministry.
“We hope to learn from Angola, they have remained champions in these various sectors, and so we trust and rely on them to assist us,” said Simon.
During the Angolan energy declaration to Namibia on the fifth and seventh of April 2023, one of the key resolutions of the meeting was to create a Working Group.
The Working Group was tasked with the mission to operationalise the action related to the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on 29 November 2022, during the International Forum “Angola-Oil and Gas”. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
