The Namibia Petroleum Corporation (Namcor) signed a cooperation agreement with its southerly counterpart, the National Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PetroSA) in Windhoek on Wednesday. The idea is to reduce dependence on energy sources outside the southern African regions and to revive the Kudu gas project, which is 140 kilometres offshore from the Namibian coast. The agreement was signed by Mr Joe Mazeingo, managing director of Namcor, who just had his second five-year contract renewed, and Mr Mpumelelo Tshume, MD and chief executive officer of Petroleum SA. Both executives however declined to give details about how the 1.3 trillion cubic feet large Kudu gas project is to be revived. Shell Exploration & Production pulled out last year after it drilled a dry gas well. Chevron Texaco took over the stake of Shell. According to Mr Tshume, PetroSA has a special technology to convert gas into liquid fuel, which could be utilised for Kudu. Mr Mazeingo said both parties had to "think big" in terms of an integrated gas complex "stretching from the Kudu field to Mossel Bay in South Africa and possibly beyond."

Namcor together with a British survey company has begun acquisition of two new multi-client data surveys off the Namibian coast. This exercise will help their clients to evaluate the Walvis and Orange offshore basins. In a statement, Veritas said the Research Vessel Nanhai 502 would collect the data, towing an 8000-metre streamer. Surveys will be done in Blocks 2011 and 2111 of the Walvis Basin and will do research in the Ondjou Basin off the Namibian coast over 1000 kilometres and 3500 kilometres in the Orange Basin along the southern part of the coast. The latter would help improve the imaging of the trend south of the Kudu gas field. Final data from the survey will be made available by October this year.

Barely a few weeks after quietly appointing a new chief operating officer, Mr Denis Kennedy, Air Namibia sacked him again. Mr Kennedy, who is believed to originally hail from New Zealand, left a lucrative post in South Africa for his Air Namibia position. In press release Air Namibia, this week announced the termination of Mr Kennedy’s services "with immediate effect, as a result of certain irregularities that have come to light." The decision was made by the board of directors. Air Namibia’s auditors and legal advisors, according to Mr Ellison Hijarunguru, manager of public relations and advertising, invested investigations in to the undisclosed irregularities.

Meanwhile the highly indebted national carrier is about to acquire two brand new passenger planes of the type Airbus 340-300. It is desperately looking for a company to lease its Boeing 747 combi plane. The leasing agreement with Air Gabon fell through.

Cabinet decided to release N$ 5 million form the contingency fund to finance the airlifts for about 5000 rural Caprivians stranded in flooded areas along the Zambezi River in north-eastern the Caprivi strip. Although Cabinet intended to issue a declaration of "natural catastrophe," this has not yet been done so. The Namibian government has asked Angola and South Africa for help with helicopters and "other sophisticated equipment" to help flood victims. Most people in the affected areas are likely to lose their annual crop harvest of mahangu, sorghum and maize. The flood which is the worst in 21 years was foreseeable and according to the regional governor, Mr Bernhard Sibalatani, his office warned residents already weeks ago to move to higher ground due to the expected floods.

The proposed levy for taxpayers for an Orphan Levy Fund will only be introduced during the next financial year starting in April 2004. Cabinet gave the go ahead for the transfer of N$ 10 million into the newly created fund, before the levy can be collected. Former finance minister Nangolo Mbumba informed Cabinet that the computer system in his ministry was currently unable to administer the collection of the levy from taxpayers and had to be adjusted accordingly. It has no yet been decided how much each taxpayer must pay into the fund. Namibia has about 83 000 orphans, over half of them due to HIV/Aids.