Erasmus Shalihaxwe
The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor), will start receiving shares from the Sungara Energies oil deal when transaction completion has been achieved.
Namcor Spokesperson, Utaara Hoveka told this publication yesterday while responding to questions on how far along the deal is and how Namcor is going to benefit that he could not provide a timeline for when Namcor can expect to start receiving its shares from the deal.
The Sungara Energies deal came to public attention when Namcor Managing Director Immanuel Mulunga had allegedly paid N$100 million to secure the deal with Angolan state-owned oil company Sonangol and two other partners.
The controversial deal prompted Namcor’s board of directors to investigate Mulunga, and the same investigation was also carried out by the Anti-Corruption Commission a few months ago.
However, the anti-graft body cleared Mulunga of any wrongdoing, with its General Director Paulus Noah, stating that Mulunga did nothing wrong, and on the contrary, he acted in the best interest of the company after making unauthorised payments.
Hoveka told Windhoek Observer that the parties to the transaction have made significant progress in the last months to fulfil the remaining conditions precedents to bring the transaction to its logical conclusion. Then Namcor with its subsidiary Exploration and Production (E&P) will start to receive its share of income when transaction completion is achieved.
“Namcor E&P has received one of the last three remaining CPs in March 2024 and therefore expects to complete the transaction soon. Namcor E&P will start receiving its share of income when transaction completion has been achieved.
Namcor E&P will update the whole nation in a dedicated media release as soon as the transaction is completed. Namcor E&P is expecting net cash flows and a share of profit from the entire project, and the duration will also be communicated in the same press release. All income from the deal will be duly reflected in our annual financial statements,” said Hoveka.
Mulunga was suspended in April last year for allegedly making the N$ 100 million payments for the oil block in Angola without approval from the board of directors.
He was replaced by Shiwana Ndeunyema in an acting capacity for six months, he was also replaced by Bank of Namibia Deputy Governor Ebson Uanguta, who is also serving in the capacity of interim managing director, while the company tries to find a long-term replacement for Mulunga.
Namcor is currently handling all the major oil discoveries off the coast of Namibia on behalf of the Namibian government, and this makes Namcor part of three oil discoveries linked to oil companies such as Chevron, Shell and QatarEnergy.
