Three internationally renowned oil companies BHP Billiton, Hunt Oil, and Neptune Petroleum received offshore oil exploration licences from Namibia’s ministry of mines and energy on Tuesday. Though it was not revealed how much the licences cost, but they jointly paid into the Namibia Petroleum Fund US$ 205 000 (about N$ 1,3 million). Billiton will also look for gas, while Hunt Oil will concentrate on the search for oil in the Lüderitz basin for 4 years. Robert Silverman, manager of Billiton’s new venture division singed the contract and Larry Bottomley, vice president of Hunt Oil singed for Hunt Oil. Neptune Petroleum of the UK will look for oil in the Walvis Bay area. "With Angola having an abundance of oil and South Africa having some oil, God could not have been so unfair to leave out Namibia in the middle without a drop of oil", Minister Erkki Nghimtina said at the signing ceremony.