Brazilian company discovers oil near Namibian coast

The Brazilian petroleum company HRT announced here on Tuesday that it had discovered oil near the western coast of Namibia. The HRT president Joe Paul told the media in the presence of Prime Minister Hage Geingob at the State House that the discovery was made within the Walvis Basin where the company has dug its first well Wingat-1. "HRT has begun drilling, particularly in this well, in the quest to find conclusive results on whether or not there is oil off the Namibian coast. Thus, we can say now that we have found an active petroleum system in Namibia. We found source rocks," he said at the press conference. HRT has been exploring for oil off the coast of Namibia since March this year. Paul further said that the source rocks are rich in organic carbon and well within the oil-generating window, meaning that they will be able to generate oil or gas if heated sufficiently. However, he said that although the company spent 810 million Namibian dollars (84.7 million U.S. Dollars), the discovery is not yet economically viable and that HRT would still drill a second well Murombe about 15 km from Wingat-1 in two weeks' time. Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali who was also present during the announcement was quick to point out that this discovery would not mean that oil prices will go down any time soon, because there are many stages involved such as the quality and quantity of the oil.