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The Ministry of Mines and Energy is working on a local participation policy for Namibia’s emerging oil sector. “The National Upstream Petroleum Local Content Policy’ aims to create an internationally competitive petroleum sector that maximises the benefits to the country through meaningful and sustainable participation by Namibians and local companies across all areas of the value chain.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy is working on a local participation policy for Namibia’s emerging oil sector. ‘The National Upstream Petroleum Local Content Policy’ aims to create an internationally competitive petroleum sector that maximises the benefits to the country through meaningful and sustainable participation by Namibians and local companies across all areas of the value chain.
The policy aims to move Namibia beyond simply depending on taxes and royalties to gain more value from backward, sideways, and forward linkages. The policy addresses issues of expectations and its obligation as spelled out in the policy for oil companies in their productions necessitates investments in certain areas such as the production of services, value creation, employment, creating skills, knowledge transfer, and ownership.
On the same note, the draft policy highlights its objectives as the provision of a clear and stable regulatory framework for Local Content requirements and the identification of specific sectors for the development of local capacity. It also aims to maximise the employment and development of Namibians, similarly the participation of local suppliers along the value chain.
The Ministry is conducting a stakeholder consultative session to take their input. Thereafter the final document will be submitted to the cabinet for its approval.
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https://trendsnafrica.com/namibian-govt-review-on-local-ownership-for-minerals/
https://trendsnafrica.com/sintana-and-woodside-energy-in-namibian-oil-block-deal/
Additionally, the policy ensures the transfer of technology, knowledge, and skills and promotes Namibian ownership and financing at all levels of the sector. This comes as the government is grappling with the issue of enhancing local ownership in the country’s mineral and oil exploration sectors against the backdrop of concerns about foreign domination.
Namibia’s oil sector is expected to become a game changer for the domestic economy following oil discoveries by TotalEnergies and Shell off the coast of Namibia, with a third discovery having been announced this week.
