TEST DRILLING FOR OIL BEGINS IN OKAVANGO

The search for oil and gas in the watershed of the worldfamous, wildlife-rich Okavango Delta moved one step closer to reality when a multimilliondollar drilling rig from Houston, Texas, broke ground on the first test well in Namibia on January 11. The rig, retrofitted for drilling in the desert, had arrived in December.

ReconAfrica believes that a formation known as the Kavango Basin holds significant amounts of oil and gas. The company’s licenced region, which covers more than 34 187 square kilometres, is home to some 200 000 people and abundant wildlife and includes important migratory routes for animals.

Within a week after arriving, ReconAfrica’s rig had been trucked 1 094 km north to a drilling site in the bed of the seasonal Omatako River, about 260 km upstream of the Okavango Delta, one of the world’s largest protected wetlands. Several weeks later, workers began drilling the first test well.

ReconAfrica is an oil and gas exploration company listed on

Canadian and German stock exchanges, whose drilling programme is run by Nick Steinsberger, an American fracking expert. The company has licenced land in Namibia and Botswana to explore for oil and gas.

National Geographic previously reported that the company’s licenced area in Namibia and Botswana encompasses the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and, originally, the Tsodilo Hills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Botswana. Following the

National Geographic story in October, Tsodilo Hills was excluded from the licence.

The licence area supports various endangered species, such as African wild dogs, white-backed vultures, and Temminck’s ground pangolins. Africa’s largest remaining herd of savanna elephants moves through it.

In Namibia, the licence area is home to more than 200 000 people and six locally managed nature reserves or wildlife conservancies.

(SOURCE: afr i casus t ai na bl e conservation.com)