What Are Oil and Gas Companies Looking For?

The Energy Explainer Pt 3: Before any international oil companies (IOCs) invest a single dollar in Namibia’s Orange Basin, they run a quiet checklist, and most of it has nothing to do with oil. In this series, we have been using the analogy of a neighbour walking into your kitchen to bake a cake. In part one, we established that local content is about being a partner in that kitchen, not a spectator. In part two, we were honest about the readiness gap, how most Namibian small and medium enterprises are not yet holding the right ingredients. Now, we go deeper. Before that neighbour even crosses the threshold, they are standing at the window, asking: is this kitchen certified, is the wiring safe and will the rules of this house still be the same tomorrow? Let us start with what IOCs need from the government. TotalEnergies is expected to make its final investment decision (FID) on the Orange Basin before the end of 2026. A FID is the moment a company signs the contract on a project: the money is committed, procurement begins, and the clock starts. Before that moment, IOCs are not just assessing the geology. They are assessing the government. The single most important thing they want is fiscal stability, the assurance that the tax rates and cost-recovery rules they agreed to on day one will not be rewritten halfway through. Imagine agreeing to work for N$500 a day, buying your tools and hiring your team, and then being told six months in that you will now be paid N$200. The whole job falls apart. Angola built investor trust by honouring its terms; Uganda has watched project timelines stretch for years partly because investors kept getting nervous about shifting conditions. Our word is part of our investment case. Beyond fiscal terms, IOCs are watching permitting speed and quality very closely. The web of approvals needed before a single well is drilled – petroleum licences, environmental impact assessments, well permits – is substantial and every week, a rig sitting idle waiting for paperwork costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. A South African court set aside TotalEnergies and Shell’s offshore drilling authorisation in 2025 because the environmental process was flawed, that case cost years of project time. Credibility of process and speed of process are not opposites. They are both required. Security rounds out the government picture. TotalEnergies’ LNG project in Mozambique was suspended for over four years after an insurgency attack in 2021, adding US$4.5 billion (about N$73.9 billion) in cost overruns. Political stability is not a box to tick, it is the foundation the whole kitchen stands on. Now, what do IOCs need from Namibian businesses? They do not lower their standards for local suppliers. A faulty weld on a subsea pipeline or a missed safety requirement has consequences measured in lives and legal liability. Before shortlisting any supplier, they will check for a quality management certification such as ISO 9001, a written health and safety policy, audited financial statements, a clear management structure, and enough working capital to survive long payment cycles. As we covered last week, none of this is unreasonable, but most of us are not there yet. Finally, IOCs look at the ecosystem as a whole: functional ports, quality geological data, and a pool of technically skilled nationals. Port infrastructure uncertainty, and Namibia has had some in recent months, injects real cost into drilling schedules. These are not glamorous issues, but they are deciding ones. The neighbour has already looked through your window. They like what they see. But before they knock, they need to know the kitchen is certified, the oven holds temperature, and the rules of this house will still be standing when the cake is done. Guyana, Brazil, and Nigeria are also on their list. They will go where the kitchen is ready. Mutindi Jacobs is an oil and gas lawyer. Through her Energy Explainer Series, she aims to simplify Namibia’s oil and gas sector for people to understand, engage, and benefit from it. Follow her newsletter on LinkedIn. The post What Are Oil and Gas Companies Looking For? appeared first on The Namibian .