The Namibian News

Human rights lawyers have filed a court appeal in Berlin seeking to block a 150-metric-ton shipment of military-grade explosives aboard German cargo ship MV Kathrin which they say is to be delivered to Israel's biggest defence contractor.The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) said on Wednesday the action was filed on behalf of three Palestinians from Gaza, arguing that the shipment of primarily RDX explosives could be used in munitions for Israel's war in Gaza, potentially contributing…

Esgian provides an update on the second round of jackup suspensions in Saudi Arabia in its Week 32 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsArabian Drilling has confirmed that Saudi Aramco has initiated discussions with the drilling contractor over the suspension of an additional leased offshore rig, following an initial round of contract suspensions that began earlier this year. Arabian Drilling has not stated which of its jackups is the target of the current suspension discussions.ADES does not expect new contract suspensions for its fleet by Saudi Aramco this year.

More equipment is being readied to contain an oil spill from a ship which ran aground and started to break apart in stormy weather on South Africa's west coast, although there are no signs of affected wildlife yet, authorities said on Monday.Rough sea swells have battered the Panama-flagged general cargo vessel "Ultra Galaxy" since it drifted onto a sand bank three weeks ago close to Doring Bay, some 300 km (186 miles) north of Cape Town, after the ship's crew abandoned the vessel…

Esgian provides an update on Saudi suspensions in its Week 20 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsDrilling contractor Arabian Drilling confirmed that the suspension of three contracts for its jackups with Saudi Aramco have yet to be finalised but are expected to take effect towards the end of the third quarter of 2024. CEO Ghassan Mirdad stated that the company is actively exploring opportunities to redeploy these rigs with other clients. Arabian Drilling announced…

Esgian reports another busy week filled with a variety of updates, including new offshore acreage offered in the UK, Norway and Nigeria, in its Week 19 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsADES Holding Company has received a direct award of a contract from Suez Oil Company (SUCO) in Egypt. The SUCO award in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez is for a firm 21-month term expected to start in the coming weeks.Noble 492-ft jackup Noble Innovator has been awarded a one-well extension with bp in UK waters at a dayrate of $145…

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry are co-leading an international initiative to accelerate reduction of emissions from the shipping sector, and on December 1, during COP28, they chaired a new round of announcements under that initiative, the Green Shipping Challenge.Various countries and organizations proposed measures to reduce emissions from shipping. This year’s announcements include:• Amazon: Amazon and other…

The region could be a key growth market for the oil and gas industry going forward, writes Joshua Belo-Osagie, Maritime Strategies International (MSI).Improving sentiment surrounds energy market prospects offshore West Africa, the positive mood underpinned by higher oil prices, reformed regulatory frameworks in key markets including Angola and Nigeria and the discovery of major prospects off the Ivory Coast and Namibia.In addition, the implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have only reinforced some of these pre-existing dynamics…

Debmarine Namibia, a subsidiary of Anglo American's diamond unit De Beers, on Monday reported a 13% drop in production to 1.125 million carats last year as demand slumped during the COVID-19 pandemic.Namibia has the richest known marine diamond deposits in the world, and is among the top 10 producers of gem-quality diamonds globally. Production, however, has been severely hampered by weak demand on the international market.Debmarine's revenue fell 5% to 6.6 billion Namibian dollars ($427 million), the company said.

Namibian ship repair company Namdock has resumed full operations with effect from Tuesday, in accordance with the inception of stage 2 of Namibia’s national COVID-19 lockdown, which has seen the partial easing of restrictive measures thanks to the recent flattening of the minimal in-country infection curve.“Over the past few weeks we have put strict personal protection and sanitization measures in place, to ensure that we could safely resume full-capacity operations when the time came.

Namibian ship repair company Namdock, situated in Walvis Bay on the west coast of Africa, has utilized its fabrication expertise to provide assistance to the Walvis Bay state hospital in its fight against COVID-19 by helping with the maintenance and repair of hospital beds, trollies and bedside cupboards.“While national infection rates and fatalities are currently low, COVID-19 has the potential to trigger a major health crisis in Namibia. We have already seen the global impact of the virus, and have taken the approach that ‘forewarned is forearmed’.

In September 2019, in a milestone agreement, Namdock concluded a contract to maintain and repair the vessels of the Marinha de Guerra Angolana (MGA), the Angolan Navy.According to Namdock’s Commercial and Operations Manager, Willie Esterhuyse, although the contract has been concluded, the exact date when the vessels will be arriving in Walvis Bay has not been finalized, it is anticipated that this will be early in 2020.In terms of this agreement, Namdock will take two Angolan Navy vessels into its dry docks initially.

The Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) compliance officials and Sea Shepherd, onboard the Ocean Warrior, have jointly carried out successful surveillance activities in Namibia`s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), effectively causing illegal factory trawlers to abandon the Skeleton Coast.The main objective of these joint patrols was to tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in Namibian waters. These initiatives assisted the MFMR and other Namibian law enforcement agencies to force illegal and foreign industrial factory trawlers out of the Namibian EEZ suspected to have targeted horse mackerel stocks through IUU activities.Large foreign industrial factory trawlers – former Soviet Union made trawlers -  have been ‘border hopping`…

Namibia marine diamond mining company, Debmarine Namibia announced that its Board of Directors have approved the construction of the world’s first ever custom-built diamond recovery vessel.The new vessel is expected to cost US$468 million and represents the largest ever single investment in the marine diamond industry, said a press release from the marine diamond exploration 50/50 joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group.The ship will become the seventh vessel in the Debmarine Namibia fleet and is scheduled to commence operations in 2022. On completion, the vessel is expected to add 500,000 carats annually to Debmarine Namibia’s production…

Wärtsilä and De Beers Marine have signed an agreement for the replacement of generating sets aboard De Beers’ diamond mining ship Debmar Pacific. The vessel, originally built in the 1970s, will be outfitted with new Wärtsilä gensets to extend its lifetime and improve reliability.Debmar Pacific is engaged in diamond mining operations off the coast of Namibia. With modern gensets, the lifetime of the vessel is extended and its specific fuel oil consumption (SFOC) is reduced. In addition…

Kleven signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Namibian offshore diamond mining company De Beers Marine Namibia for the building of an offshore vessel purpose-designed to support seabed mining operations. Designed by Marin Teknikk of Norway, the 176m ship will be the longest vessel to date to be built at the Kleven yard in Ulsteinvik, Norway. The MoU follows Kleven's June 2016 delivery of SS Nujoma to De Beers Marine Namibia. "With unrivalled sample quality and a fuel consumption 30 percent lower than expected, the SS Nujoma has been a success story for us from the start.

exactEarth Europe Limited, a UK subsidiary of exactEarth Ltd, a provider of Satellite AIS data services, recently concluded the main part of its ‘South Africa Safety Initiative for Small Vessels’ (OASIS) project – a small vessel tracking trial with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), part-funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA) under its ‘International Partnership Space Program’ (IPSP). A key aspect of SAMSA's mandate is to ensure safety of life at sea, including small vessels in the fisheries, leisure marine and workboat sectors.

Recently, The Namibian reported the existence of a "confidential letter from Namibia's ambassador to China, Ringo Abed, to Namibia's foreign minister stating that 'a Chinese delegation will visit Namibia ... for discussions ... The reports say that Beijing has told Namibian diplomats that a "Chinese naval presence will deter any would-be illegal trawlers and smugglers.”  China's Indian Ocean-based "string of pearls" naval base strategy to protect the country's 21st Century vision of a "maritime silk road" looks like it may now extend all the way to the South Atlantic. China’s annual trade with Africa soared 11-fold in the decade to 2013, exceeding $200 billion, and the country’s companies have invested on the continent.

Namibian Portfolio. In an update it informed about its Namibian portfolio, its repositioning in the region and forward work programmes across these licences. These steps improve Chariot's negotiating position in partnering discussions and provide further commercial optionality. The move also aligns this part of Chariot's portfolio with its strategy of being a fast follower and managing risk whilst retaining significant equity and acreage positions. In line with this strategy, Chariot will aim to proceed towards the drilling phase across its Namibian acreage following appropriate geological and financial de-risking. Within the Central blocks…

The Australian-based Deep Sea Mining Campaign congratulated the Namibian Governments on its decision to place a moratorium on seabed mining. “The Deep Sea Mining campaign applauds the Namibian government’s decision to impose a moratorium for 18 months on marine phosphate mining,” said Natalie Lowrey, communications coordinator for the Deep Sea mining campaign. In announcing the decision, the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, the Hon. Bernhard Esau, stressed that seabed mining cannot happen if there is not solid proof that it will not have negative impacts on the environment. “Namibia has shown wisdom in being cautious. This very caution is exactly how sustainability is achieved.

Rapp Hydema has been supplying deck machinery to research vessels since 1977, but this global market recently became especially significant for the group. In 2002, in what would be a watershed project, Rapp Hydema was chosen to outfit the NOAA Fishery Survey Vessel (FSV) Oscar Dyson class of vessels. The first four ships in the class were being constructed at VT Halter Marine Shipyard. “That NOAA research vessel contract provided us with excellent exposure,” said Johann Sigurjonsson, President of Rapp Hydema U.S.

France Telecom-Orange announce abandonment of its cable ship 'Chamarel' off the coast of Namibia. A fire broke out on the cableship Chamarel while returning from a repair operation on the Sat3-Safe cable off the coast of Namibia in the Atlantic Ocean. Despite the crew's efforts to control the fire, the decision was made to abandon the ship and all 56 crew members were safely recovered by a Namibian fishing vessel without injury or incident. They are currently located at the Namibian port, Walvis Bay and will be repatriated in the coming days.

The share price of African focused oil and gas exploration company, Chariot this week took a major tumble after the explorer announced that it had found no oil off the Namibian coast, according to an All Africa news report. Chariot's share price fell on Monday to a yearly low of 75 pounds upon confirmation that no commercial hydrocarbons were found in the Tapir South exploration well in Northern Block 1811A and the well will be plugged and abandoned. The first well of Chariot's four to five well drill programme, Tapir South was rated as having a 25% chance of success and was targeting resource potential of some 604 million barrels of oil.

Chariot Oil & Gas Limited confirms that the Tapir South (1811/5-1) exploration well in Northern Block 1811A in the Namibe basin offshore Namibia has reached a total depth of 4,879 metres TVDss. The well was drilled by the Mærsk Deliverer semi-submersible drillship in 2,134 metres of water and operated by Chariot's wholly owned Namibian subsidiary, Enigma Oil & Gas (Pty) Limited. Preliminary logging results indicate that, although excellent reservoirs were penetrated, no commercial hydrocarbons were found and the well will be plugged and abandoned. The well encountered 173 metres of net reservoir sand of Cretaceous age, including two zones in excess of 30 metres with average porosities of 24% and evidence of good permeabilities.