Huab basin
In this prospect, carbonaceous shales and deep coal seams have been intersected in three drill holes. The three holes are 18 km apart and the coal seams are about 10 m thick. The coal seams occur at a minimum depth of 317 m and a maximum depth of 695 m. The raw coal has average fixed carbon content of 54%, moisture of 0.95%, ash content of 31.9% and volatile matter of 12.5%. Estimated raw coal resources are 544 million tonnes. Dark carbonaceous shales occur at a depth of 193 m to a maximum depth of 693 m. The coal seams are contained between strata of dark carbonaceous shales. The shales have not been analyzed for TOC content. The presence of coal seams and thick dark shales makes this an exciting prospect for the development of oil and gas fields.
Owambo basin
In the Owambo basin, the upper Tsumeb limestones are black in colour and is underlain by a 93 m thick black carbonaceous shale. VR values of 0.73 to 1.08 and TOC content of 2.8 – 12.6 wt.% have been reported. In the Etosha national park, a naphthenic oil sample was collected from one of the wells, after it had been standing for several months. This indicates that shale oil had been squeezed out of a kerogenous rock.
Nama basin
Vein bitumens and hydrocarbon rich fluid inclusions have been reported from several localities in the Nama Basin. The Ganigobis shale member in this prospect consists of dark shale and mudstone, with localized carbonaceous intercalations and several coal seams, which developed from vegetated deltas and flood plains, during upper Permian and Triassic times. TOC contents vary between 0.7-2.4 wt. %.