ReconAfrica's new CEO doubles down on Okavango exploration in 2024

Reconnaissance Energy (Africa)

12/10/2023 17:14

By Wendell Roelf
       CAPE TOWN, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Canada's Reconnaissance
Energy Africa (ReconAfrica) will start a new drilling campaign
early next year near the protected Okavango Delta in Namibia,
its new CEO said on Thursday as he downplayed criticism of the
project from environmental groups.
    ReconAfrica has faced strident criticism from Namibian
environmentalists and communities, but has the government's
backing to continue drilling in vast acreage it holds with
environmental authorization to drill up to 12 wells.
    "When we operate, we operate well, we operate safely, we
operate within the guidelines of everything, so the noise out
there is noise," ReconAfrica CEO Brian Reinsborough told Reuters
on the sidelines of an African energy conference.
    "We've actually monitored animal movements... and it's very,
very low... this is a pristine environment, we recognise that,
and our philosophy internally is no injuries, no spills, no
waste and that's what we plan to do," Reinsborough said in some
of his first comments to international media since his
appointment in August.
    Two years ago, the Namibian energy minister told Reuters
that the government would award a 25-year production license
should the junior oil and gas company find any oil in the
Kavango Basin where drilling is taking place some 260 km from
the pristine Okavango Delta, designated a UNESCO World Heritage
site.
    The Okavango Delta, shared by Botswana and Namibia, is one
of the very few major river delta areas that does not flow into
a sea but drains into the sands of the Kalahari desert.
    It is fed by the annual flooding of the Okavango river,
making the wetland an important dispersal route for elephant and
other wildlife.
    Reinsborough said the company will start a new 4-6 well
drilling campaign early next year, after an initial set of wells
proved the existence of an active petroleum system with an
estimated 2 billion barrels of oil and 30 trillion cubic feet of
gas.
    However, environmentalists and communities in the area have
not given up protesting against ReconAfrica's work and lodged a
complaint to various regulatory authorities, including the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, in August.
    "The company's statements continually downplay the risk of
very serious repercussions on the water system that tens of
thousands of people living downstream from their operations
depend upon for their survival," read part of the complaint seen
by Reuters.

 (Reporting by Wendell Roelf, Editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((wendell.roelf@thomsonreuters.com; +27 21 461 3523;))