The prospecting licenses to survey an area of about 2,900 square km (1,119 square miles) have been issued for a three-year period and could be extended for a further four years. Under Namibian legislation, the company will receive priority for mining licenses, provided that mineral resources are discovered, Sintez said.
Sintez expects to launch its prospecting and survey project in the African country in the first quarter of 2008 and is currently drafting a program for it, the group said.
Sintez Group, which carries out projects in the electric power sector, geological prospecting, oil and gas production, oil refining and sales, the repair of wells and provides transport services, has already accumulated experience of working in the African country.
Since 2006, Sintezneftegaz-Namibia Ltd. incorporated in Sintez Group has been prospecting for hydrocarbons in the north of Namibia's shelf and expects to start drilling the first survey well in the Kunene area in the first quarter of 2008.
In November, Sintez Group also acquired five prospecting licenses to search for alluvial diamonds on the Namibian shelf.
