Namibia Blocks TotalEnergies-Petrobras Oil Deal and Tells the World: Our Rules or Nothing

Namibia’s energy ministry found out about one of the biggest oil deals in the country’s history the same way everyone else did — from a corporate press release. The government’s response was swift and blunt: the deal does not exist. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Brazil politics and Latin American financial news.

On February 6, TotalEnergies and Petrobras announced they had each bought a 42.5% stake in an offshore exploration block called PEL104 — 11,000 square kilometers of ocean floor in the Lüderitz Basin off Namibia’s southwestern coast. They purchased the stakes from two smaller firms, while Namibia’s state oil company Namcor kept a 10% share.

Two days later, the energy ministry fired back: it had not been consulted as the law demands, and only heard about the deal “a few minutes” before it went public. Presidential spokesperson Jonas Mbambo said bluntly that without a formal application, “no transaction can be recognised or considered valid.”

A President Who Wants Total Control

To understand why Windhoek reacted so forcefully, you need to understand what is at stake. Namibia is a vast, sparsely populated country of just 3 million people with a $13 billion economy, 36.9% unemployment — rising to 44.4% among young people — and one of the widest gaps between rich and poor anywhere on Earth. For fifty years, companies drilled off its coast and found almost nothing.

That changed in 2022 when TotalEnergies struck oil at a site called Venus — the biggest sub-Saharan African discovery in decades, with an estimated 1.5 to 2 billion barrels. Portugal’s Galp Energia then found the even larger Mopane field, estimated at 10 billion barrels.

TotalEnergies plans to pump 150,000 barrels a day from Venus before the decade is out. Overnight, Namibia went from an exploration graveyard to one of the most sought-after oil frontiers on Earth.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah — Namibia’s first female leader, in office since March 2025 — decided this was too important and too prone to corruption to leave with a regular ministry. She moved the entire oil and gas sector directly under her office.

The political fallout has been intense. A journalist was removed from the presidential residence by security after asking about the president’s family’s alleged oil ties.

Nandi-Ndaitwah fired her previous energy minister partly for approving a license without her consent, and her replacement introduced a bill creating a new oil regulator inside the presidency.

Sovereignty or Power Grab?

Supporters say Namibia is right to demand respect, pointing to Mozambique and Uganda where weak government stances delayed oil projects for years.

Shell’s decision to write off $400 million in Namibian assets in early 2025 reinforced the argument: the oil giants need Namibia‘s seabed just as much as Namibia needs their money.

Critics warn that concentrating so much power in one person’s hands is dangerous. Oil analyst Ibrahima Aminu cautioned that direct political control could scare off investors.

In parliament, opposition lawmaker Vetaruhe Kandorozu said the president had no business pulling oil under her wing, and Swanu party leader Evilastus Kaaronda put it plainly: “The oil is not her resource — it belongs to all Namibians.”

The deal will most likely go through — the two companies, deep-water partners in Brazil for over a decade, have exactly the expertise Namibia cannot do without. But the government’s very public slap-down carries a message far beyond one contract.

Namibia is watching what happened in Guyana, where offshore oil turned a tiny South American economy into a global player almost overnight, and it wants the same transformation — strictly on its own terms.

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