All articles in the Petroleum People Section:

TOTALEnergies has appointed an experienced female African specialist within its management ranks as its Country Chair in Namibia.

Mariam Kane-Garcia succeeds Laurent Roché, the French drilling engineer who oversaw the company’s aggressive campaign in the country from July 2022 to November 2025.

She returns to Africa from Paris where she was, for the last one year, Senior Vice President HSSE TOTALEnergies MS.

Her prior assignment before the last job was a five year role as MD & CEO TOTAL South Africa and Executive VP Southern Africa TOTAL M&S, for which she was domiciled in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kane-Garcia comes to the Namibian position with a different, but highly valued set of skills than core geoscience or engineering, as she takes the helm at TOTAL’s likely next largest exploration and production heartland  on the continent.

The next nine months will be crucial for negotiating the final investment decision (FID) on the Venus oil field development, proposed as a concept of up to 40 subsea wells tied back to a single FPSO with a nameplate capacity of approximately 160,000 barrels per day of oil, with reinjection of associated gas offshore.

In speeches, actions and appointments, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who took power in March 2025, has signalled to the oil industry she was centralising control around her office, with few trusted advisers.

Mariam Kane-Garcia’s appointment may then be a way of the French major telegraphing the message that it is willing to engage with the Namibian government as carefully as it can.

After a few roles doing finance, budgeting and marketing,   Kane-Garcia’s career took off with her appointment as Vice-President Strategy – Africa and the Middle East in 2012.

In 2016, she left Paris to live in Aberdeen, Scotland as Strategy Business Development Director TOTAL E&P UK (TEP UK).

After those two back to back strategy jobs at very high levels, she moved to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Abdulrazaq Isa will hand over the executive reins at Waltersmith Petroman, the Nigerian independent E&P and crude refining company, effective December 31, 2025.

From the new year, he will run the company’s board of directors as a non- executive chairman.

He told Africa Oil+Gas Report he is retreating to the background on a high note: “We’d be exiting the year at around 7,000Barrels of Oil Per Day on the Ibigwe and Assa Fields and the start-up date for the new train of the refinery, making 10,000Barrels Per Stream Day, is December 19, 2025”.

With co-founder Danjuma Saleh serving as Deputy, Mr. Isa has been Waltersmith’s front and centre personality for a period spanning close to 30 years. He briefly ceded executive functions between 2019 and 2023, when Chikezie Nwosu ran the company. He returned to full executive role as Executive Chairman/Group President in 2023.

The company, on Wednesday December 17, 2025, publicly announced three board appointments:

“It is my hope that they will build upon our successes and take the Company to greater heights”.

Oladapo Filani, who has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2023, has been appointed Managing Director.

Filani will take fuller charge of Waltersmith Petroman, overseeing the company’s entire upstream, midstream (refinery)  and downstream (petroleum products) business, including Non Operated relationships with Renaissance Energy Africa Company, the new indigenous Nigerian behemoth (October 2025 operated output: 240,000BOPD), in which Waltersmith holds 16.5% interest and NDWestern, in which Waltersmith has 8% interest.

Alex Osho has been appointed as Executive Director (Finance & Commercial) following his successful tenure as CFO of Waltersmith Petroman from December 2019 to January 2023 and as the Group Chief Operating Officer since February 2023. These key appointments recognise the immense contributions of Mr. Filani and Mr. Osho to the Company and their proven leadership capabilities.

Taiwo Adeniji, who had been appointed to the board as an Independent Non-Executive Director since  July 2025.

Isa said he firmly believes “in the leadership potential of the Company’s new leader, Mr. Filani. He has led by example and placed the Company on a robust growth path over the lastfew years, hinged on strong technical capabilities and a can-do spirit. He will be supported by Mr. Osho, who has also been extremely influential in charting a new course for the Company over the past few years, relying on his financial/ commercial acumen, critical thinking skills, and collaborative approach

”They have both demonstrated strong leadership, professionalism, empathy, and vision. They have also demonstrated ideation and execution capabilities over the past fewyears. It is with this confidence that I hand over the reins of the Company to its new leaders. It is my hope that they will build upon our successes and take the Company to greater heights”.

OLADAPO FILANI – Managing Director–an accomplished petroleum engineer with over 26 years of distinguished experience in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, has successfully led WSPOL’s operational excellence and strategic initiatives over the past two years. As the Managing Director and CEO, Oladapo will be responsible for the overall stewardship of WS Upstream, Midstream Gas, and Downstream businesses.

Before joining WSPOL, Mr. Filani served as Deputy General Manager, Corporate Strategy & Business Delivery at First Exploration & Petroleum Development Company Limited (First E&P).

His career includes progressively senior roles at Eland Oil & Gas as Asset Development Manager and nearly two decades at Addax Petroleum Development Nigeria Limited, where he advanced from Reservoir Engineer to Senior Manager, Planning & Gas Development. His extensive experience spans Strategy and Planning, Operations, Portfolio Management, Gas Commercialization, Asset Development Management, and multidisciplinary team leadership across technical and commercial functions.

Mr. Filani holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Ibadan and an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University. He is an alumnus of London Business School and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigerian Society of Engineers, and the Chartered Institute of Directors, Nigeria.

ALEX OSHO — Executive Director-has served as Group COO at the Waltersmith Group since February 2023 and has 20 years’ experience in energy, investment banking (M&A advisory, corporate & project finance, restructuring), and consulting. Prior to joining Waltersmith Petroman as CFO in 2019, Alex served as Associate Director & Head of Advisory & Equity Capital Markets at FBNQuest Merchant Bank where he led the $1Billion restructuring of a large commercial bank and advised the FGN on the privatization of key power assets. Alex also previously served as VP (Investment Banking) at Barclays Africa where he advised a Nigerian upstream oil company on a key asset acquisition. He had also held key roles at KPMG, Oando, and FBN Capital.

Alex has advised on transactions valued at over $12Billion across the energy, financial services, consumer, and infrastructure sectors. At Waltersmith, he has been responsible for several landmark transactions including debt and equity financings, restructurings and asset acquisitions. He has worked very closely with the Group Chairman and Company CEO to provide strategic direction, ensure financial prudence, and oversee the Company’s activities.

Mr. Osho holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting (1st Class Honours) from the University of Benin, Nigeria, where he graduated as the best student in his department and faculty, and an MBA (with Distinction) from INSEAD, where he graduated on the Dean’s List. He is a CFA charter holder, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and a recipient of several ICAN national merit awards.

TAIWO ADENIJI — Non-Executive Director-is a distinguished development finance and infrastructure finance expert who will bring over 30 years of experience to contribute valuable independent oversight and governance expertise to the Company, brings over 30 years of distinguished experience in development finance, investment banking, and infrastructure development across Africa. He retired from Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as a Senior Director in June 2024. At AFC, he spent 17 years in executive management roles, including as Divisional Head and a member of several senior management committees.

At AFC, Mr. Adeniji’s portfolio spanned power, transport and logistics, heavy industries, telecommunications, oil and gas, and mining sectors. He also had responsibility for originating, developing, financing, and managing infrastructure and industrial projects across Nigeria and more than 10 African countries.

Prior to AFC, Mr. Adeniji worked for 13 years (1994-2007) with the African Development Bank (AfDB), focusing on infrastructure, industrial projects, and financial sector development across Nigeria and more than 10 African countries.

Prior to AFC, Mr. Adeniji worked for 13 years (1994-2007) with the African Development Bank (AfDB), focusing on infrastructure, industrial projects, and financial sector development across more than 20 African countries. He currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several companies. Mr. Adeniji holds an M.Sc. (Hons) in Finance and Banking (with Distinction) from the University of Lagos and a B.Agric. (Hons) in Agricultural Economics (First Class) from Obafemi Awolowo University, where he graduated as the best student in his department and faculty. He is an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and has undertaken extensive professional training in infrastructure financing, corporate risk management, and leadership.

For six years, Osa Oweiadolor was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Platform Petroleum, a leading operator of Marginal Oil Field in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Since taking early retirement from the company in 2021, he has run Trustrock Energy, a consultancy which helps to hand-hold emerging operators in the industry. He sits on the boards of Midwestern Oil & Gas Ltd, Transnational Energy Ltd (Licensee of PPL 221 Marginal Field), Nosak Distilleries Ltd, Shepherd Trust Microfinance Bank, and Magboro Power Company Ltd, among others

He recently fielded a range of questions around industry issues from Africa Oil+Gas Report correspondents, Foluso Ogunsan and Akpelu Paul Kelechi

Excerpts from the interview by Foluso Ogunsan

AOGR-You were the CEO of Platform Petroleum for six years and COO for five years before then. That company produced an average of 3,000 barrels of oil per day under your watch, and it was a consistent performer. Before your departure, you’d overseen the start of supply of at least 30Million standard cubic feet of gas per day into the Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC). System. That’s a lot of experience, so what, in your perspective,  was your major fulfilment in the 14 years or so that you served both as an employee of Platform and its Chief Executive Officer?

Owieadolor-For fourteen and half years, I was with Platform as a staff and of course, for over a decade I functioned initially as the COO and later as the CEO. Joining Platform right at the foundational phase threw up the opportunity of building a pioneer Marginal Field operator from all the way to First Oil. We also had the responsibility of setting up the structure beyond First Oil,. We had to ensure filling the talent pool to work for the company. What legacy means to me is more than sustaining liquid hydrocarbon output and monetising gas resources. It would be the building of a formidable team of young, competent E&P professionals from the Geology and Geophysics (G&G) to the Operations and Maintenance (O&M), Finance and all the other non-technical staff. It was a team that had a lot in them in their thirties, in their forties and today they’re all excelling in their various capacities where they’re serving. Contributing to the building of a company from foundation that is today regarded as one of the strongest brands amongst indigenous oil and gas companies in Nigeria is one of my biggest legacies.

Are you continuing in this direction of building a legacy of human capital development?

Some of the marginal field companies I’m involved in are in a phase that Platform once went through, so it’s very easy to replicate some of the things I have done in the past. But apart from building skills and mindsets, you have to ensure that the right strategy is adopted for development of the asset. You have to ensure that you have optimum financing and all the other things that you need to run an efficient organization.

“I am not eager to take up he CEO role in a large,  indigenous Nigerian company. I would not be eager to take it. We must not be recycling the same set of people over and over again..’’

The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was enacted about four years ago. How would you evaluate the on-going evolution of the Nigerian Upstream sector as we implement the law?

Overall, there’re a number of achievements. We can directly point to the PIA that we concluded the last Marginal Field Bid round in 2022. A number of those awardees have developed their assets to First Oil. So that’s a lot of value to all the stakeholders in terms of Tax and Royalty for government and value creation of employment and development in host communities. Some others are still working aggressively towards First Oil and we’ve seen a lot more stability in the industry. The PIA also brought clearer policy framework. We’ve also seen improvement in the area of crude losses, which used to be a major nightmare for everyone. At some point, we had losses in the range of 40, 50,60% depending on where you’re evacuating your crude from. But today some of those losses have reduced to less than 5% in some evacuation routes and there’s been overall production improvement. This has boosted national revenues, with the overall stability within the oil and gas producing areas as well. There’s also significant reduction in youth restiveness because you have a clearer policy framework for regulating host community management. It’s been a lot of positives, but it’s still early days like I said earlier.

What are your top areas of possible improvement-either for operators, or for regulators- in the short term?

Production improvement has a long way to go. There are a lot of short-term oil generation opportunities. In the next six months, there are all kinds of rig-less activities that some of these small companies can use to beef up their production. It’s a unique game of numbers, everything adds up 500 barrels per day here, 1,000, 2000 barrels per day there. It all adds up. So there’s some bit of scope to improve that. I ‘m impressed that several companies are doing a lot in In terms of gas monetisation. With better collaboration now, some of the new companies are building pipelines, gas pipelines for gas evacuation and there’s a better understanding of the commercial terms that guides the commercial aspects of the business of gas monetisation.

Is your own company- Trustrock Energy involved in the kind of well intervention and reservoir hook-up services like the Rigless re-entries you mentioned earlier?

No! We focus more on consulting. We consult and offer more of Advisory Services for most of the companies we work for. We guide them through the acquisition process, beyond the acquisition process, then we also guide through the development, negotiating critical agreements, for example Joint Operating Agreements etc. What brings the most fulfilment is seeing some of these companies bringing their assets to full commercialisation.

Osa Owieadolor, Chief Executive PPL

From where you sit, what is the lowest hanging opportunity in the Nigerian E&P space? What is the quick reach in the Nigerian E&P space presently?

Quick reach, lowest hanging opportunities. There are a couple of Short Term Oil Generation (STOG) opportunities; some wells that would have been shut in for some little reasons; pipeline vandalization, choke-box problem and a few other things that are essentially rigless. You don’t need to go through the process of getting a rig to intervene in such probes because that has a much longer lead time. Then again gas monetisation. A number of companies are still flaring their gas. But with improvement in infrastructure across the region; just building some short evacuation lines and some little bit of investments in compression systems, you’re able to monetize some of these gas molecules that were initially stranded and were being flared. You may also look at issues around optimising your supply chain management. You could easily save 20-30% of your overall costs if you’re able to optimise your supply chain management very well., There’re a lot of leakages as a result of processes that could have been a lot faster to achieve, processes that will have a lot less bottlenecks. So again, we expect that these are some of the values that you’d get from the indigenous companies, because the perception is that the IOCs have a lot more bottlenecks in terms of the supply management processes. So I see all of

 “Small” companies always complain about funds. Is lack of funding not one of the reasons they’re not taking advantages of these short-term -oil –generation- opportunities you mentioned?

Funding is one of the biggest challenges facing most of the indigenous companies today, especially the last batch of Marginal Field Licences. We had a Signature Bonus that was on a very high side. The best strategy when you’re talking of Marginal Field development, you need to have a clear line of sight beyond just paying Signature Bonus, to funding to your First Oil. The moment you begin to produce and establish cash flow, then it’s going to be a lot easier for you to fund your operations. I have seen a few companies find ways around it somehow through strategic collaborations.

You have left Platform for four years now. If you were called back to be the CEO of one of these leading indigenous companies eg. Seplat or Renaissance, would you be willing to take the offer?

I would say not eager at all! I would not be eager to take it, but again, you can never tell.

“GAS IS EASIER NOW-just building some short evacuation lines and some little bit of investments in compression systems, you’re able to monetize some of these gas molecules that were initially stranded and were being flared.”

So what  company  can make you change your mind, even though you’re not eager?

 You can’t tell for now. As professionals, you keep all your options open. So when you get to that bridge, you will find a way to cross it. You will take an appropriate decision that will be fit for that context and that particular circumstance.

You’ve never been afraid to speak your mind in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry. Your very public lament on Signature Bonus, five years ago, is one of them. What are the things that the Nigerian policy makers and regulatory agencies are still getting wrong? I want to link that with the most recent (2024)Bid Round. There were companies that we’ve never really heard of that were winning two blocks, two licences for Deepwater. An there were companies like Stardeep (Chevron), TOTAL  who were losing bids to rank unknowns?

Nigeria’s oil industry professionals have  built sufficient technical and financial capacity in the onshore and around shallow water terrains. We can play very conveniently in those spaces. But when you begin to look at deeper offshore, we need to tread a little bit more carefully, take it one stride at a time, and grow sustainably. I would suggest that we consolidate on the capacity that has been built in Onshore, Swamp and shallow offshore areas rather than rushing to move into the deep offshore. In terms of some of the policies that can be seriously looked at, Signature Bonus is key. We expect that in future bid rounds the Signature Bonus should be kept at as low as possible, so as to incentivize the awardees and mitigate the funding pressure. We must always look beyond the Signature Bonus. We need to have a line of sight beyond the Signature Bonus, all through to the development of the asset to First Oil.

When you were running Platform, the company got deeply involved in gas monetisation. What advice would you give the regulatory authorities as they battle with ensuring that the Gas Flare Programme actually delivers value in terms of projects arising from the usage of this gas?

A number of companies are not comfortable flaring. As a result, they’re channelling a lot of efforts towards ensuring that they’re able to clean that as quickly as possible. For example, a company is flaring as low as four to five million standard cubic feet of gas on a daily basis, if you annualize that, it’s well over nine million dollars that you’re going to be spending just on penalties. If you decide to channel that into the funding of infrastructures, it’s going to go a long way.

There’s also the issue of Drill or Drop. Companies are now given this directive, within a particular space of time, over a field, you actually have to work the entire asset and you produce within a particular period of time. It was what Gbenga Komolafe, Commission Chief of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, said as he inaugurated the Bid Round of 2024, that within a particular period of time, there was a Drill or Drop that could be applied. What is your take on the Drill or Drop? Some Nigerian companies have had some of those fields for years and have not done any work, infact there’s one that paid a hundred million dollars as penalty. What is your take on the Drill or Drop?

It depends on where you’re sitting. From the side of the government, you want to introduce some of those measures to discourage asset owners just sitting on the asset. But outside of that, you still recognize the fact that the regulators have a very strong role to play in encouraging investments. As a rule, some of these are best practices globally, but the implementation is what matters. You need to strike some balance. They’re not straight-jacketed. You have to look at individual circumstances. They’re not things you apply as a blanket rule. You look at individual context. You look at the asset, you look at the players, you look at their Field Development Programme, look at the funds that have come in. You look at the effort put in, you look at the progress that has been made and overall you can make an informed judgement on how it should be applied. It’s not a rule that should be applied across board generally for everybody. The specific context of the asset and the operator has to be seriously factored into such a decision.

What keeps you up at night presently given all the experiences you’ve had, the fact that you’ve moved on, the fact that you’ve established your own firm that is saddled with taking other companies from inception to first oil. Then you still have to take this relatively new company through the process of getting human capital that you train to help you run the process, and then still deliver value for the company’s shareholder which you’re consulting for?

I’m relatively busier than I was while was in the 9-5 structure. The only thing that is different now is that you have a lot more under your control. Admittedly there’s a lot more leverage to decide on what to do and what not to do. The pressure is a lot less. What keeps me awake? If you ask me today, one of the things I really get worried about is the very huge knowledge gap between the old generation of professionals in the industry and the young ones that are coming up. There’s a very huge gap. Succession planning is a major issue and you see it across most of the indigenous companies in the industry, succession planning is an issue. And that is why you see a lot of companies working around the old professionals, retirees. A lot of them are called back and offered consultancy positions to support work programmes, support development and all of that.  So I think there’s need to go back to what we used to have. I recall that back in the days, on a yearly basis, we had graduate trainee programmes in most of the IOCs then. A few of the indigenous companies are gradually introducing it, but there’re still far from where it should be. So these are programmes that should be deliberately pursued by all. We need to have a graduate trainee programme. I don’t know the government through NUPRC may be able to come up with a policy framework on that that will mandate our indigenous players to have a percentage of their staff to be in that category.  Once you have them in that category, you now have to also a competency framework through which you’re able to develop them on an annual basis then you can now build capacity.

You basically understand the oil and gas industry, why did you choose to go into consultancy? Why didn’t you choose to align with someone with deep pockets who wants to get into the oil game but does not understand the oil game and serve as a managing director on a share basis and raise another small to medium size Nigerian oil and gas company that has an asset of 20 million barrels recoverable, work with them for decade and exit? Why did you go straight into consultancy?

“DRILL OR DROP RULE: Implementation is what matters. You need to strike some balance: look at individual circumstances. They’re not things you apply as a blanket rule. You look at individual context. You look at the asset, you look at the players, you look at their Field Development Programme, look at the funds that have come in…”

You need to be aware that I spend less than 20% of time today on the consultancy business. I told you I sit on a number of boards. Within the first year of my leaving Platform Petroleum, I had several invitations from a couple of companies across sectors – oil and gas, financial services and manufacturing and ofcourse from Non-profit as well. All of these are also some of the things that take my time. I heard what you said, but if I attempt to answer your question, I’ll have to disclose so much to you. But overall, this business is a marathon business. It’s a longterm business and for a longterm business, some of us are aging, so the kind of energy I had when we were building Platform, I was in my thirties when we were building Platform. I left Platform at 51 or thereabout, today I’m already 55 and you’re expecting me to come back, join another company and spend another decade, decade and half. That’s not the kind of country we want to build. By doing that, I’m going to be displacing the space of some other young professionals that can be developed. We have a lot of young petroleum engineers, geoscience graduates and other professionals that should be encouraged, we need to have a proper development programme and get them to fill all of these spaces. We must not be recycling the same set of people over and over again.  So this is one of the things that keep me worried. We have to be deliberate about it. You don’t want to have the same people occupying the space. It’s the same kind of thing we complain about in the political space. Same politicians you’ve been hearing of over the decade, are still the ones there. So we don’t want to transfer the same culture to the oil and gas, otherwise it’s just going to become a oligopolistic, well that is what it is, you don’t want to push that too far. You must do everything to discourage an oligopolistic system in the industry. I joined Platform in 2007, I was 37 then and left when I was 51. A fourteen year sojourn. 

Amid a tense national debate about the immediate and long term future of Namibia’s Energy sector, President Netumbi Nandi-Ndaitwah has relieved Natangwe Ithete of his duties as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy (MMI&E), a portfolio which also covers Petroleum.

Frans Kapofi, the Defence and Veterans Affairs Minister, was appointed as the interim minister for the ministry. His appointment is temporary while the process of selecting a permanent minister continues.

It is instructive that Gaudentia Kröhne, who is Deputy Minister of Mines  and Energy, was not asked to act as interim minister.

The President told the staff of MMI&E in a closed-door address that Mr.  Ithete went against her directive regarding approval of any new oil blocks or renewal of existing ones without consultation.

“I told the minister that, let me first understand and there should be no renewal; there should be no new block given unless we consult one another,” she told the staff.

Mrs. Nandi-Ndaitwah, the first female President in Namibia’s 35 years post-independence history, has been in power only since March 21, 2025.

She has taken the reins at a time when Namibia, acknowledged as one of the hottest petroleum exploration spots on the globe, was beginning to move into the development phase of the discovered hydrocarbons, and she wanted to have a grip.  “We know that when I took over, I said the upstream will fall under the Office of the President,” she reportedly said at the meeting, according to the influential local daily Windhoek Observer.

Mr. Ithete’s ouster, announced Sunday October 27, 2025, came less than 48 hours after Tom Alweendo, the country’s  former Minister of Mines and Energy, published an article that provided a scathing opinion of the progress made so far by the country, in supporting TOTALEnergies, to take  Final Investment Decision on what will be the first large scale oilfield development in the country. “Namibia needs a serviceable, phased plan for (the) Lüderitz (Port) and a sensible overflow role for Walvis Bay (Port)”. Mr. Alweendo noted in a widely distributed article. “Instead”, he lamented, “the market saw Namport pause southern-harbour upgrades to “clarify scope” and cancel a Lüderitz supply-base tender days after launch. That injects uncertainty into drilling schedules where rig days and marine spreads cost real money. The fix is not a megaproject”.

Mr. Ithete, who was appointed to the job on March 24, 2025 , has also had the misfortune of witnessing RWE, the large German utility, announce its withdrawal from Namibia’s $10Billion Hyphen green ammonia project, dealing a setback to Namibia’s ambition of becoming a leading hydrogen hub in southern Africa.

By Toyin Akinosho, in Cape Town

Chevron Corporation has announced that Kevin McLachlan will become its Vice President of Exploration, 24 hours after TOTALEnergies named his replacement.

Chevron says that McLachlan, who was TOTAL’s  Senior Vice President Exploration between 2015 and 2025, will start work effective November 1, 2025, “overseeing the company’s worldwide exploration programme”. McLachlan will be based in Houston, succeeding Liz Schwarze, “who is retiring in February after 36 years of service to the company”.

It’s probably not a coincidence that Nicola Mavilla, the geoscientist hired from ENI to replace McLachlan at TOTAL, is also starting work at the French major on November 1, 2025.

The question that comes up is: was TOTAL forced to announce McLaclan’s exit and replacement on October 6, 2025 when it was clear he was leaving for Chevron, or did TOTAL push him out? This is certainly an evolving story.

What’s clear is that Chevron was in sore need of someone like McLachlan, who oversaw TOTAL’s discovery of the Brulpadda and Luiperd (offshore gas condensate) fields in Block 11B/12B, in South Africa’s Outeniqua Basin between 2019 (Brulpadda) and 2020 (Luiperd), and the Venus accumulation, a major offshore light oil field in Block 2913B, in Namibia’s Orange Basin, in 2022.

Chevron has, of recent, been haemorrhaging money drilling dry holes in frontier exploration plays in Africa, even in jurisdictions where others are making discoveries. In late 2024, the American major failed in the Khendjer-1 wildcat in the Egyptian part of the Mediterranean sea, around the same time that ExxonMobil declared a gas discovery in nearby Nefatari-1.

Around the same time, Chevron’s first well in the current phase of the Namibian rush was a “duster.” The Kapana-1X, located in PEL 90 in the Orange Basin, found no commercial hydrocarbons, although the company says it provided valuable basin data. Chevron is still committed to Namibia, however, and plans to drill another exploration well in the Walvis Basin in 2026 or 2027. Mr. McLachlan will be a huge help.

“Kevin will be an important addition to the Exploration organization,” said Clay Neff, president of Chevron Upstream. “He joins us as an experienced energy executive with extensive experience, and a strong record of leading and driving exploration organizations to achieve industry-leading performance and value creation.”

Chevron’re press statement concludes:  “McLachlan has extensive experience in international oil and gas exploration, development, production, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). He has held senior leadership and executive roles at companies such as TOTALEnergies SE, Murphy Oil Corporation, Nexen Inc., and ExxonMobil Corporation. He received his Bachelor of Science in Geophysics, Honors Programme, from the University of Calgary”.