Negotiations on Development Terms for Namibia's Venus Oilfield Continue, In-Country Investment Decision Pending

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 15, Kornelia Shilunga, head of the upstream petroleum department at Namibia's Presidential Office, confirmed that the Namibian government and TotalEnergies are still negotiating the development terms for the Venus offshore oilfield. TotalEnergies had previously set 2026 as the target for the project's final investment decision and plans to achieve first oil by 2030. The project is located in the Orange Basin and has completed front-end engineering design, with estimated resources of approximately 750 million barrels of oil equivalent and a planned production platform capacity of approximately 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The Venus oilfield was discovered in 2022, with TotalEnergies as the operator, and is located in the PEL 56 exploration license area. The project has completed reservoir evaluation, and engineering design work has entered a relatively mature stage. In its annual plan published in early 2026, TotalEnergies stated that front-end engineering design had been completed, and that engineering, procurement, and construction lump-sum turnkey quotations had provided a basis for development cost estimation, with a floating production storage and offloading unit planned for offshore production.

The project plans to adopt an electrified production system, centralized power generation configuration, closed flare, and oil and gas vapor recovery facilities, with a designed Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity of approximately 15 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent. The company had previously estimated combined unit capital expenditure and operating expenditure at approximately USD 20 per barrel of oil equivalent, and incorporated the above design and cost indicators into its investment evaluation.

According to the schedule previously announced by TotalEnergies, the Venus project was originally planned to make a final investment decision in 2025, after which the target was adjusted to mid-2026. In August 2026, project equity holder Meren Energy confirmed that the development plan was technically ready for an investment decision, but that the relevant decision was premised on reaching an agreement with the Namibian government on fiscal terms.

At the end of September, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné stated that the company was advancing project development negotiations with the Namibian government and hoped to complete the relevant procedures within the following weeks. On October 15, Kornelia Shilunga confirmed that negotiations were still ongoing but did not confirm whether an investment decision could be made within 2026. Consultations between the Namibian government and the project operator involve the development contract, fiscal arrangements, and conditions for subsequent project implementation.