WINDHOEK: Namibia plans to stop oil and gas companies from carrying out off-shore exploration for part of the year, to protect the fishing industry, a senior official said yesterday.
Amid concerns that seismic surveys may be disrupting the migratory routes of tuna, senior fisheries ministry official Anna Erastus told AFP such tests would now only take place from May to September.
“This arrangement is to be communicated to the companies that are issued with such licences by the ministry of mines,” said Erastus. Brazilian oil firms HRT and Petrobras, as well as Spain’s Repsol have exploration licences in Namibia.
Offshore exploration began in Namibia in the late 1960’s and resulted in major gas finds, though little in the way of oil. But technological advances mean there are now high hopes that Namibia can become a crude producer on a similar scale to neighbouring Angola, Africa’s second-biggest producer after Nigeria.
A rush of companies are now carrying out seismic testing in the southern Atlantic, which involves bouncing sound waves off undersea rock formations to detect deposits.
AFP
