Immanuel Mulunga, the Managing Director of the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR), will be attending and participating at Africa’s premier event for the oil and gas sector, African Energy Week (AEW) (AECWeek.com), which will take place from 18 – 21 October 2022 in Cape Town. With Namibia on the precipice of both an oil and hydrogen boom owing to sizable oil and gas discoveries made this year, Mulunga is set to make a strong case for investment in the southern Africa country, emphasizing the role Namibian oil will play in making energy poverty history by 2030.

Mulunga has vast experience in the oil and gas sector, previously serving as Key Account Manager at bp, Petroleum Commissioner at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and Chief Administrator at NAMCOR before taking on his current role as Managing Director. Since taking office as NAMCOR head in 2015, Mulunga’s priority has been to increase exploration and production activities across Namibia’s rich basins and to develop strategic storage and transportation infrastructure in partnership with local and foreign companies in a bid to boost Namibia’s oil and gas market to meet domestic, regional and international energy needs.

On the upstream side, Mulunga has led NAMCOR in a series of exploration activities which have led to significant discoveries including the Graff-1 deep water exploration alongside major Shell and Qatar Energy, as well as in the Venus-1X project in block 2913B in the Orange Basin alongside France’s TotalEnergies. Additionally, in June 2021, NAMCOR also embarked on a joint initiative with Canadian firm, RECONAFRICA, to jointly develop and explore the Kavango Sedimentary Basin. These developments have not only reaffirmed the role national oil companies play in driving upstream success but reiterate the frontier potential of African countries.

Meanwhile, with NAMCOR recently launching operations within the downstream sector and seeking foreign direct investment to optimize the sector, AEW 2022 provides the best platform for Mulunga to meet with investors, negotiate and sign deals that will enable Namibia to address its energy shortages and affordability challenges. With Namibia seeking to exploit its estimated 11 billion barrels of oil and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves to meet local and regional energy demand, NAMCOR entered into a partnership agreement with TransNamib, the country’s rail operator, to jointly develop and improve storage facilities and rail networks to enable the safe transportation of over 3,600 tons of petroleum products per month across Namibia and to neighboring countries. In 2021, under the leadership of Mulunga, NAMCOR took over the operation and maintenance of the multi-billion-dollar National Oil Storage Facility which has a capacity of 75 million liters to ensure the security of fuel supply.

“Namibia is one of Africa’s leading emerging hydrocarbon markets. Backed by strong governmental support, and a highly attractive and increasingly competitive regulatory environment, the country’s oil and gas sector is set to undergo significant growth,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (AEC), adding that, “What Namibia needs now are investments to boost the development of infrastructure while maintaining exploration and production.”

At AEW 2022, Mulunga will promote Namibia’s oil and gas downstream, midstream and upstream potential with a focus on increasing foreign investments in exploration activities to boost the domestic market. Under the theme, Exploring and Investing in Africa’s Energy Future while Driving an Enabling Environment, AEW 2022 will host Mulunga in panel discussions, high-level meetings and investor forums, where he will discuss how Namibia and the entire continent can attract investment to maximize the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources to make energy poverty history by 2030.