By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on May 5, 2024
In August 2011, Olayinka Arowolo and I co-founded Nabirm Energy Services (Pty) Ltd. to explore oil and gas opportunities in the Republic of Namibia. Arowolo was a successful African entrepreneur and experienced corporate executive who is based in Nambia.
I was heading Masada Resource Group, a Birmingham, Alabama based waste-to-energy company that is now known as OxyNol Solutions. The "Nabirm" name is derived from a combination of Namibia and Birmingham.
We headquartered Nabirm in Windhoek, the beautiful capital city of Namibia.
African-based GRAFFI DBA Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd. became a Nabirm shareholder in 2014. U.S.-based Horizons, LLC (Huntsville, Alabama), became a shareholder in 2020.
The shareholders of Nabirm believed in turning possibilities into prosperity in oil-rich Namibia. We stayed the course, focused on the flawless execution of Nabirm's business plan, ignored every nay-sayer, and overcame every obstacle in our path to success.
On November 11, 2015, OffShore Engineer magazine shocked the oil and gas industry when it made this announcement about Nabirm:
Today, Nabirm is focused on the implementation of the geotechnical work required to extract at least 522 million barrels of “unrisked” recoverable Brent crude oil and 583 billion cubic feet of “unrisked” methane natural gas from its assigned offshore oil block in the Walvis Bay on a non-farm out basis.
This is an exciting time for Nabirm, its executive team, shareholders, and their work in the international oil business. In 2011, we reimagined resource-rich Namibia and it is paying off today.
What many people said was impossible is now our reality. To those who believed in Nabirm and supported us on this journey, we say, "Thank You!"