After losing Angola and several other members in recent years, the OPEC+ producer group is looking to recruit Namibia, which could become Africa’s fourth-largest producer within a decade.

In recent years, Total Energy and Shell have made discoveries estimated at 2.6 billion barrels, paving the way for the African country to plan production from around 2030.

According to the informed sources, OPEC+’s primary goal is to see Namibia join the “Charter of Cooperation” that will hold long-term negotiations on energy markets. Brazil joined the charter in January.

In the end, OPEC, which cooperates with Russia and other producers as the core of the OPEC+ group, prefers Namibia to be a full member, according to NJ Ayuk, executive chairman of the African Energy Chamber, who helped facilitate the talks between the two sides.

He added that OPEC has started its move to recruit Namibia and at this stage, the outcome of the negotiations is not known.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al-Ghais said in February that OPEC is negotiating with several countries to join the Charter of Cooperation, but he did not name these countries.

OPEC tweeted at the time that Al-Ghais had met Namibian Minister of Mines and Energy, Tom Alwindo, at a conference in Nigeria, where they discussed the prospect of cooperation between OPEC and Namibia under the umbrella of the Charter of Cooperation.

According to S&P Commodity Insights, Maggy Shino, petroleum commissioner of Namibia, expressed interest in joining the OPEC family last year.

According to Ayuk, the talks between OPEC and the Namibian government will likely continue in late April, when Al-Ghais will visit the country to speak at the Namibian Energy Conference.

Namibia’s production will reach a peak of 700,000 barrels per day within the next decade, which is less than Angola’s 1.1 million barrels per day, but if more successful discoveries are made, Namibian production could grow even more.