U.S Ambassador to Namibia - Ambassador John Giordano’s Remarks at Africa Energy Week

From Discovery to Delivery: Namibia’s Path to First Oil

Good afternoon.

Thank you to the African Energy Chamber for bringing us together here in Cape Town. It is a pleasure to join so many leaders who are helping shape the future of energy development across Africa.

We are meeting at a consequential moment for the global energy industry, and particularly for Namibia.

In just a few years, discoveries in the Orange Basin have transformed Namibia from a frontier exploration market into one of the most closely watched offshore energy opportunities in the world. International companies have committed substantial capital, exploration has produced significant discoveries, and expectations for what Namibia could become have risen accordingly.

But there is an important distinction between discovering resources and developing an energy industry.

Discovery creates opportunity. Investment creates capacity. Execution creates prosperity.

That distinction is at the center of my remarks today.

The question confronting Namibia is no longer simply what lies beneath its waters. It is whether the decisions made today will translate extraordinary geological potential into commercial production, infrastructure development, and lasting economic growth.

I come from Pennsylvania, where the modern petroleum industry began in 1859 about 300 miles northwest of my hometown of Philadelphia.

The discovery of oil helped launch an industry that would transform the American economy and eventually the world. But America’s emergence as an industrial power was not simply the consequence of what we discovered underground. It was the consequence of what we built around those discoveries.

American enterprise developed the infrastructure, technology, financial markets, and industrial capacity necessary to turn natural resources into productive assets. Private investment and innovation transformed an initial discovery into an industry that helped establish the United States as the world’s leading economic power.

That experience offers an important lesson for Namibia today.

Resources are enormously valuable, but resources alone do not create a globally competitive energy economy. That requires an environment in which companies can invest with confidence, infrastructure can support industrial development, and private enterprise can translate geological potential into commercial activity.

The distinction matters because the stakes today extend well beyond Namibia.

We are entering an era in which access to reliable, affordable energy will increasingly determine economic competitiveness and national security.

Last week at the Milken Institute in Singapore, I emphasized a fundamental reality of the emerging Super Intelligence economy:

Power is physical.

Super Intelligence may be digital, but the infrastructure that makes it possible is not. The extraordinary expansion of computing capacity depends on reliable electricity, while the industries supporting that expansion depend on energy, critical minerals, and infrastructure capable of operating at scale.

The next generation of technological leadership will depend, in significant part, on who can develop and secure those physical foundations.

This is why energy development has become inseparable from broader questions of economic power and strategic competitiveness.

And it is why Namibia’s emerging energy industry deserves attention well beyond the petroleum sector.

Namibia possesses a combination of assets that could position it as an important energy and logistics hub for Southern Africa. Its offshore petroleum discoveries have attracted global interest, while its established uranium industry and critical mineral resources offer additional opportunities for industrial development. Its ports and transportation corridors provide a foundation for connecting these activities to regional and international markets.

The strategic opportunity lies in bringing those assets together.

Offshore energy development can support the expansion of port facilities, logistics networks, and industrial services. Those investments can, in turn, strengthen the infrastructure available to mining operations and other industries, creating opportunities for additional private investment and regional trade.

This is why I have consistently argued that Namibia’s energy, mining, and infrastructure opportunities should not be viewed as isolated projects.

A discovery is not an energy strategy. A mine is not an industrial strategy. And a port, standing alone, is not a trade strategy.

The opportunity lies in connecting them.

A successful development strategy recognizes that energy production, industrial capacity, and transportation infrastructure reinforce one another. When these investments are planned and developed as part of a coherent commercial system, their combined economic value can exceed that of the individual projects.

That is how a country moves beyond resource extraction toward sustained industrial growth.

And it is how Namibia can position itself as a competitive commercial gateway for Southern Africa.

But achieving that outcome requires more than ambition.

Namibia’s offshore projects are among the most technically complex and capital-intensive developments in the world. They require sophisticated engineering, substantial financing, and investment decisions whose consequences will extend over decades.

For the companies considering those commitments, the quality of the resource is only part of the equation. Equally important is the environment in which that resource will be developed.

The geology may be extraordinary. But geology alone does not produce a final investment decision.

Geology attracts attention. Policy determines whether attention becomes investment.

For Namibia, the path to first oil will ultimately be measured by the progression from exploration to final investment decisions, project sanctioning, and construction, followed by the commencement of commercial production. Each stage depends on timely decisions, regulatory certainty, and the confidence of investors committing capital over decades.

That is particularly true in deepwater petroleum development, where companies must commit billions of dollars long before production begins.

Investors need confidence that regulatory requirements are clear, fiscal arrangements are predictable, and contractual commitments will be respected. They also need confidence that government decisions and infrastructure development will proceed on timelines compatible with the commercial realities of the projects.

These are not abstract policy considerations. They directly influence the cost of capital, the timing of investment decisions, and ultimately whether a project advances.

And Namibia is competing in a global market for that investment.

Capital can move across borders. Companies can evaluate opportunities in multiple jurisdictions. And even extraordinary resources must compete for the financing and technical expertise necessary to bring them into production.

The countries that attract sustained investment are those that provide the confidence necessary for companies to make long-term commitments.

For Namibia, the implications are clear.

A predictable investment environment, efficient decision-making, and infrastructure development aligned with commercial requirements can accelerate the transition from exploration to production.

Unnecessary delays, by contrast, impose costs that extend beyond the companies involved. They postpone employment, defer economic activity, and delay the broader benefits that resource development can bring.

This is particularly important because offshore production cannot succeed in isolation from the economy that supports it.

Deepwater development depends on reliable onshore infrastructure, capable service providers, and a workforce prepared to meet demanding operational requirements. Those capabilities must develop alongside the offshore projects themselves if Namibia is to capture the full economic value of its discoveries.

The objective should not simply be to produce oil.

It should be to establish an internationally competitive energy industry that supports broader economic development.

That includes meaningful opportunities for Namibian businesses and workers.

But sustainable local participation is not created simply through mandates or declarations. It develops when businesses acquire the technology, expertise, and commercial capabilities necessary to compete, and when workers gain skills that remain valuable long after individual projects are completed.

This requires an investment climate that encourages companies to develop local capacity as part of commercially sustainable operations.

It also requires recognizing that the private sector is not simply a source of financing. It is the principal mechanism through which resources become productive assets and economic opportunities become lasting industries.

That brings me to the role of the United States.

Under President Donald J. Trump, American economic and commercial diplomacy is focused on advancing American interests, expanding opportunities for American companies, and delivering tangible results.

President Trump has made American energy dominance a central national priority because energy security is national security, and abundant, reliable energy is fundamental to economic strength.

Our international commercial engagement reflects those same principles.

We seek competitive markets in which American companies can operate on a level playing field, invest with confidence, and secure opportunities based on the quality of their technology, expertise, and performance.

We also believe that international economic partnerships should be grounded in reciprocity and deliver measurable benefits for the United States and our partners.

That approach is particularly relevant to Namibia’s emerging energy industry.

American companies have spent generations developing the technologies and operational capabilities required to succeed in some of the world’s most demanding energy environments. Our experience in deepwater engineering, complex project development, and industrial operations is directly relevant to the challenges Namibia faces as it moves toward commercial production.

Companies such as Chevron, Baker Hughes, and Halliburton are already engaged in Namibia’s energy sector, bringing capabilities that can help translate offshore discoveries into productive commercial assets.

Their participation also illustrates why American commercial engagement abroad matters to the United States.

When American companies win contracts, export equipment, and provide advanced engineering and industrial services, those activities support American businesses and workers while strengthening the international competitiveness of our industries.

They create markets for American innovation and reinforce the industrial capabilities that underpin our own economic and national security.

And by participating in the development of strategically important energy resources, American companies help establish durable commercial relationships in markets that will become increasingly consequential to the global economy.

For Namibia, these partnerships can bring investment, technology, operational expertise, and opportunities for local industry.

For the United States, they create commercial opportunities, support American enterprise, and advance our broader economic interests.

That is reciprocity in practice.

Having served for a year now as U.S. Ambassador to Namibia, I have seen firsthand both the extraordinary scale of the opportunity and the importance of converting commercial interest into concrete outcomes.

My engagements with government leaders, investors, energy operators, and infrastructure developers have reinforced a consistent conclusion: Namibia possesses extraordinary potential, but realizing that potential requires decisions that translate investor interest into commercially viable projects.

The challenge is not simply attracting international attention. Namibia has already accomplished that.

The challenge now is to create the conditions that allow capital to move, projects to advance, and resources to be brought into production.

That requires confidence and a shared understanding that time matters. Every unnecessary delay postpones not only production, but also the economic opportunities that development can create.

For the United States, our responsibility is clear. We must move beyond engagement for its own sake and focus on securing tangible commercial outcomes that advance American interests.

The measure of success is not how much opportunity a country possesses. It is how much opportunity a country and its partners convert into results.

That principle applies as much to American diplomacy as it does to Namibia’s emerging energy industry.

The Orange Basin offers the possibility of a historic economic transformation. But the significance of these discoveries will ultimately depend on the institutions, investments, and infrastructure that allow them to be developed.

The countries that succeed in the coming decades will not necessarily be those with the largest resource endowments. They will be those that combine their resources with sound policy, competitive markets, and the capacity to execute.

Namibia has the resources and the opportunity to become a major energy producer and an important commercial gateway for Southern Africa.

And the United States has an important role to play.

We are competing for the opportunities emerging across Namibia’s energy sector and throughout Africa. We will open markets for American companies and advance commercial partnerships that strengthen our economic and national security interests.

And we will measure our success by the investments made, the contracts secured, and the projects brought into operation.

Because the future of the Orange Basin will not be determined by what has already been discovered.

It will be determined by what is built next.

And the United States intends to help build it.

Thank you.

owerhous