TotalEnergies, BWEnergy set to decide on Namibia projects 'late next year'
Namibia expects French oil major TotalEnergies to take a final investment decision (FID) on its Venus discovery in the African country in the fourth quarter of 2026, the country's petroleum commissioner said on Tuesday.
Maggy Shino said at a conference in Paris that she expects TotalEnergies to submit its first oilfield development plans for approval in June or July.
Shino added that Namibia expected to finalise another field development plan with Norway's BWEnergy to develop the country's smaller Kudu gas field in June, with a FID also coming in late 2026.
In January Shell wrote down its Namibia oil discoveries as uncommercial due to a high amount of gas in the fields, dampening initial enthusiasm that the southern African country, which has no hydrocarbon production, could become a major producer.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne has said he believes the French oil major can handle those geological challenges, but that a FID will depend on whether production costs can be kept under an internal requirement of $20 per barrel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
Sona Mahendra asks: am I the right founder for this business?
Across these pieces, a founder wrestles with structure versus intuition, received wisdom against lived reality. Image: Photo by Kevin Turcios on Unsplash. I've had a front-row seat to Sona Mahendra's latest entrepreneurial chapter, watching her transition from backing founders at 54 Collective to building her own startup. The transformation has been fascinating: seeing how lessons learnt while supporting other people's ventures now play out in her own. After her initial TechTides Africa column hijack, African Tech's Next Big Challenge: Matching Venture Capital to Realistic Outcomes, I've been tracking how she navigates the founder's chair with fresh perspective from the other side. Her four-part Sona's Field Notes email capsule series offers a window into this evolution, both psychological and practical. The first instalment tackled that haunting question keeping African founders awake: "But is it VC-backable, though?" Mahendra pushed back. Why pre-filter ideas through investor lenses when most founders are too early for VC conversations anyway? Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Freedom from market-size obsession, she argued, actually speeds up learning. March brought The Market Size Misconception, challenging founders who abandon promising ideas over perceived total addressable market limitations. Drawing from Y Combinator wisdom, she called out the "VC toolkit" mentality that kills viable businesses before they prove themselves. In Africa's problem-rich environment, she reasoned, any substantial challenge pursued long enough will grow into real opportunity. April's Principles Over Playbooks cited Cedric Chin's demolition of the "Idea Maze" concept and Peter Thiel's first principles thinking. Mahendra questioned Africa's dependence on imported playbooks. Successful companies, she concluded, emerge from deeply personal journeys that resist cookie-cutter approaches. Across these pieces, a founder wrestles with structure versus intuition, received wisdom against lived reality. Now, in the last in this series of public reflections, Mahendra turns the microscope on herself rather sharply, confronting a question that pervades every entrepreneur's quiet moments. Here's what's on Mahendra's mind, in her words: "Am I the right founder to build this business?" is a recurring question I ask myself. I don't ask this just because the constant curveballs result in inevitable imposter syndrome, but because evaluating any venture requires honestly assessing whether the founder, even if it's you, has what it takes to win in that market. There's a lot of content about "founder archetypes" and "strong founders" across LinkedIn thought pieces. Most of it boils down to lukewarm labels like "execution-focused" or "visionary," which don't actually explain why some people succeed and others don't. By those definitions, nearly anyone passionate enough is a "good" builder until they're not. What does it even mean to be a "strong founder" when markets are this brutal? That question led me down a rabbit hole, with ChatGPT as my thinking partner, to explore common types and how they perform across different markets and business models. While archetypes are inherently limiting (venture capital, after all, is about spotting outliers before they're obvious), they're still a helpful lens for understanding founder-market-model alignment, and for reflecting on your own strengths, values, and context. Here's what I discovered: Different business models demand different people The type of business you want to build determines the kind of person it needs to build it. For example: If you want to build a hyper-scale technology startup, the dominant type that succeeds is a hybrid of the Visionary/Sales and Product builder. These people understand or can build the product but lead with strong vision and optimism about the future. They're great at pitching, which is crucial for raising capital, recruiting early teams, and driving initial traction. However, they might struggle to operationalise as the business scales. On the other hand, execution-heavy ventures (like franchises or infrastructure plays) thrive under Operator types. These are people who are process-driven, detail-oriented, and consistent. They build strong companies based on fundamentals that are ready for scale, but they don't naturally gravitate to startup ideas that align with venture capital's high-growth demands. Different markets reward different people We often look at founder-market fit through the lens of whether the person suits the market. But we should also ask: does the market suit the person? Different industries reward different skill sets: Healthcare rewards operators and domain experts who bring trust and credibility. Deep tech favours highly technical people who can navigate complexity and build deeply technical products. Consumer and innovation-led sectors often reward visionary sellers who can successfully fundraise. People who can tell compelling stories are able to rally teams and attract capital, all of which is needed to get customers to move away from the status quo. What I'm seeing more of is people becoming more deliberate about the kind of business model that suits their industry and reflects their values. Market readiness beats ability 'When a great team meets a lousy market, market wins. When a lousy team meets a great market, market wins. When a great team meets a great market, something special happens.' — Andy Rachleff (Co-founder, Benchmark Capital) Formidable people in a weak market are as good as weak people in a strong market. Turns out, the average person can be great too, as long as the market accepts their solution and its needs are met. Markets are not meritocratic. There are no rewards for process and presentation, only solutions. Play to your strengths These types aren't fixed. Great people evolve from builder to CEO, from sales to product leader. Especially in Africa's young, resource-constrained startup scene, people often wear multiple hats early on. But knowing your default operating mode helps understand where you can stretch yourself and where you realistically can't. People who know their core strengths (builder, operator, visionary) can make smarter hires, find complementary co-partners, and grow more effectively. Assessing a startup's survivability often comes down to evaluating the founding team, not just the individual founder. In a market where it can take up to three years to get a big client, we're all going to need the best teams and partners to improve our chances of success. We do that by understanding the kind of companies that are uniquely suited to what you enjoy doing and are good at. "What are you? Whatever you are, that's how you find success. If you're a salesman, you sell your way to success. If you're a politician, you politic your way to success. If you're a fighter, you fight your way to success. You can't find success by being something you're not" — Alan Knott-Craig (Founder, Fibertime) Success is the only metric that matters In reality, strong people are only recognised in hindsight, after they've succeeded. If you browse LinkedIn bios of high-profile company builders, you'll see a wide variety of backgrounds: music majors, ex-corporates, serial entrepreneurs. There is no formula, and that's the point. People are rewarded for solving problems and investors are rewarded not for the "obvious" bets, but for having a differentiated thesis about what kind of person wins in that particular market and opportunity. Anyone can be a business builder. At the end of the day, success (carving out room for yourself in a market) is the only metric that matters that can truly determine if you're a 'strong' builder. I'm wrapping up this share while grappling with a lot about what it means to build a business from scratch in real time while also navigating a few significant life changes. I'm struck by how much there is still to learn—about markets, about timing, about myself as a builder. Cheers to every founder out there building and learning in public, and here's to sharing what's working, what isn't, and why, as we all figure this out together. Andile Masuku is Co-founder and Executive Producer at African Tech Roundup. Connect and engage with Andile on X (@MasukuAndile) and via LinkedIn. Sona Mahendra - from founder to venture builder and back again. Fresh from helping to transform promising founders' visions into venture-backable businesses at 54 Collective, she's now fleshing out her own alternative healthcare financing venture concept with newly minted venture support expertise and a souped-up connectivity profile to match. Andile Masuku is Co-founder and Executive Producer at African Tech Roundup. Connect and engage with Andile on X (@MasukuAndile) and via LinkedIn. Image: File. Sona Mahendra - Venture Building and Investing in Africa. Image: Supplied. BUSINESS REPORT Visit:
TimesLIVE
a day ago
- TimesLIVE
Geely chair says global car industry faces ‘serious over capacity'
Geely's chair and founder Li Shufu said on Saturday the global automotive industry was facing "serious over capacity" and the Chinese carmaker had decided not to build new manufacturing plants or expand production in existing facilities. Li made the comments at an auto forum in the central city of Chongqing, according to the company. Geely Holding owns many automotive brands including Geely, Zeekr and Volvo. His comments come as the Chinese car industry, the world's largest, has been locked in a brutal price war that is forcing many players to look to markets abroad and has prompted Chinese regulators to call for a halt. Chinese carmakers that have been building plants abroad include BYD, Chery and Great Wall Motor. Geely is planning to use French carmaker Renault's existing production facilities in Brazil and take a minority stake in Renault's business in the Latin American country, according to an announcement it made in February.
IOL News
a day ago
- IOL News
Goodyear South Africa's restructuring puts over 900 jobs at risk
Concern has been raised as Goodyear South Africa serves Section 189 notice to workers' unions National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa on restructuring at their manufacturing plant in Uitenhage Eastern Cape, putting over 900 jobs at risk. Image: David Paul Morris Goodyear South Africa's announcement on Friday to discontinue its manufacturing operations in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape, has sent shockwaves through the region, with over 900 jobs at risk due to a Section 189 notice served to the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa). The decision, communicated by Goodyear's Managing Director Paul Gerrard, has raised alarm among unions, and economic analysts, who fear the closure could devastate the local economy amid high unemployment. Mziyanda Twani, Numsa Eastern Cape Regional Secretary, said on Friday that the union is dismayed by Goodyear South Africa's announcement to discontinue its manufacturing operations in South Africa. 'The union has been served with a Section 189 notice from Paul Gerrard, the Managing Director of Goodyear Tyres in South Africa. The manufacturing plant is located in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, and the company envisages that at least 907 employees will be affected by the plant closure,' Twani said. Twani added that as a region, Numsa was deeply worried about the impact on workers and their families in Uitenhage. 'It is becoming a ghost town given that ContiTech, which is part of Continental, closed down and it is also in the same tyre and rubber industry. At the same time, it may not be easy to replace these jobs. The Eastern Cape has a very high unemployment rate at 41.9% according to StatsSA.' Twani said that while the outlook is bleak, as Numsa, "we stand ready to do everything we can to defend the jobs of our members and to negotiate fair severance packages. The dates of the first consultation will be communicated in due course". Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Chris Harmse, consulting economist of Sequoia Capital Management, said he is concerned about the move. 'One of the issues could well be that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) could be ending due to the strain on South African and American relations. This could well have led to Goodyear South Africa wanting to scale down operations at its Uitenhage plant. The Agoa most major part is made up of 60% of the motor industry, with the next largest part being the agriculture industry. We hope that if Agoa does end, other major companies don't look to scale down business,' he said. Goodyear South Africa is the heart of business in Uitenhage. 'Another issue is that the cost of doing business in South Africa is becoming too high, including issues with electricity, water, and failing infrastructure. We could see businesses looking to move their operations to other parts of Africa and to countries like Botswana and showing a preference to use Walvis Bay in Namibia for doing business South Africa already faces steep economic challenges. We are seeing that South Africa's GDP is being revised downwards, and this does raise concern about doing business in South Africa,' he said. Nduduzo Chala, the managing executive at South African Tyre Manufacturers (SATMC), said that he is concerned about Section 189 at Goodyear South Africa. 'However, we must remember that Goodyear South Africa has entered a consultative process, and there will be an opportunity for the government, trade unions, and other stakeholders to voice their concerns. It is not set that they would retrench over 900 workers and end operations at the manufacturing plant in Eastern Cape. We just have to wait and see how the process unfolds.' SATMC is concerned about the possibility of the plant closing. 'It's not a great situation for us as SATMC, workers, and the Eastern Cape community, but we have to see what happens during the consultative process,' Chala said. Dr Eliphas Ndou, an economist and author at Unisa's Department of Economics, said the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP has become smaller over time. 'The sector faces many challenges, including low-cost imports and a decline in local manufacturing competitiveness. The decline in the latest BER business confidence index shows that most businesses are not satisfied with prevailing business conditions. Hence, the development in the tyre manufacturing sector is a clear message to the government that wants to grow the economy, create, and keep employment to fast-track the implementation of structural reforms that will improve the local manufacturing sector's competitiveness, including tyre producers.'
