By America Hernandez

PARIS (Reuters) -Namibia expects a final investment decision (FID) by TotalEnergies on its Venus discovery by late next year, a senior government official said on Tuesday, even as the company pushes for incentives to lower production costs.

The French oil major has joined peers like Shell and Galp in developing offshore blocks in the southern African country, which has no hydrocarbon production and is eager for new revenue sources.

However, Shell wrote down its Namibia oil discoveries earlier this year as uncommercial due to a high amount of gas in the fields, dampening initial enthusiasm that the country could become a major producer.

TotalEnergies, which has said it can handle Namibia's geological challenges, is on track for an FID on its Venus discovery in the fourth quarter of 2026, Maggy Shino, petroleum commissioner at Namibia's Ministry of Mines and Energy, told a conference in Paris.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne has said that an FID will depend on whether production costs can be kept under $20 per barrel.

The company is currently in talks with Namibia to shoulder a higher burden of the costs, but getting costs under $20 a barrel will be "challenging", Mike Sangster, Total's senior vice president for Africa, told the conference.

Norway's BWEnergy plans to develop the country's smaller Kudu gas field. Shino told the conference she expected those plans to be finalised in June, with an FID in late 2026 too.

COMPLEX ISSUE

Namibia is pushing oil majors exploring its waters to collaborate on a common plan to collect and monetize the natural gas in its oil fields, using joint infrastructure to pipe the gas to an onshore processing plant and use some for regional electricity.

Sangster said selling gas wasn't in TotalEnergies' plans for Venus, and that the company already exports liquefied natural gas from projects in Angola and Nigeria.

"In the case of Namibia, the gas is very remote... under 3,000 metres of water, which is a world record, and 300 kilometres (186 miles) from the coastline... to monetize the gas is super complex," he said.

Gas will need to be re-injected as part of the development to produce the oil, Sangster added.

Shino said it was too soon to comment on TotalEnergies' ruling out participating in a common gas plan.

"We still need to discuss all these details, and to see Total's field development plan in June or July," she told Reuters on the conference sidelines.

TotalEnergies owns a 45.25% interest in offshore block 2913B containing the Venus discovery, alongside QatarEnergy (35.25%), Africa Oil's Impact Oil and Gas (9.5%) and Namibia's state-owned NAMCOR (10%).

BWEnergy holds a 95% interest in the Kudu prospect, with NAMCOR holding the remaining 5%.

(Reporting by America Hernandez; Writing by Dominique Patton; Editing by Louise Heavens and Susan Fenton)