(Bloomberg) – Namibia plans to consolidate control of its petroleum sector under the office of the presidency, as the southern African nation edges toward becoming an oil producer.
The move is part of a proposed amendment to the Petroleum Act, Defense and Veterans Affairs Minister Frans Kapofi — who is also serving as Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy — said in Parliament late Tuesday.
The bill seeks to “provide for the transfer of certain powers” from the energy minister to the president and to the director-general of the upstream petroleum unit in the presidency, Kapofi told lawmakers. Some responsibilities held by the commissioner for petroleum affairs would move to a newly created deputy director-general within the upstream unit.
The proposed changes come as TotalEnergies SE negotiates with Namibia over the development of an offshore discovery that — along with a string of finds by Shell Plc and Galp Energia SGPS SA — have turned the nation into an exploration hot spot.
Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah started to bring oil and gas more directly under her control earlier this year.
The latest proposals are an attempt to elevate the status of the upstream unit and establish its legal basis, said Graham Hopwood, a special adviser to consultancy Horizon Engage. “They had to clarify that,” he said.
