Namibia a South African country with a population of about 2.6 million people is abundant hydrocarbon reserves with an estimated value of about 11 billion barrels of oil as recently discovered offshore fields, with TotalEnergies’ Venus-1X find making up almost half of the total, state-owned oil firm NAMCOR said in a presentation of preliminary data as reported by Reuters.

The southern African country has not produced any oil or gas yet, but has become a global exploration hotspot after deep water discoveries by Shell and TotalEnergies over the last two years. Oil companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil and Galp Energia are also conducting exploration and appraisal activities. The raft of discoveries could make Namibia a top 15 oil producer by 2035, said NAMCOR, with an opportunity to double the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in less than a decade.

According to the NAMCOR presentation, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, the Venus well holds around 5.1 billion barrels of oil, while Shell’s Graff-1X held 2.38 billion and its Jonker-1X another 2.5 billion and these wells are still being appraised with a final reserve estimate potentially released later this year, Namibian oil officials said.

The development of Venus and Jonker were being fast-tracked along a “multi-phased incremental” approach, said NAMCOR, which held a 10% interest in the discoveries. It added that there was no development concept for Shell’s Graff and Le Rona wells yet.

“Initial estimates show Graff and Venus have the potential to almost double the Namibian GDP by 2040 to close to $37 billion,” NAMCOR said.