CAPE TOWN - Namibia expects the first oil from major offshore finds by 2030 and is considering a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform to help it export the crude oil, its petroleum commissioner said on Wednesday.

Namibia, which has yet to produce any oil and gas, has attracted strong interest from international energy companies after Shell and TotalEnergies made discoveries off the coast of the southern African country.

Petroleum commissioner Maggy Shino told Reuters at an oil conference in Cape Town, South Africa, that the two oil companies were conducting appraisal tests to determine if they contained commercial amounts of oil that could be developed.

"For the oil project, deep water we are thinking of having an FPSO and then exporting the crude to the market," she said.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning)