The African Petroleum Producers Organization is advancing plans to develop regional energy hubs aimed at improving infrastructure connectivity and scaling oil and gas investment across Africa.
My recent conversation on a social media platform with a close friend in Lagos came to an abrupt, silent end. Hours later, he messaged me back with an apology: The phone battery had died, and his neighborhood had been waiting for restoration of electricity service for the better part of the day.
An International Relations Analyst, Ishmael Hlovor, has underscored the importance of continental unity in addressing the challenges African countries face in procuring crude oil from Western nations and the Middle East.
The Africa Energy Bank (AEB) is positioning itself as a new source of risk capital for Africa’s oil and gas sector at a time when global upstream financing is becoming increasingly constrained.
As G20 leaders gather in Johannesburg, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) is urging global policymakers to place Africa’s oil and gas sector at the center of the continent’s economic strategy. With demand rising, energy poverty persisting, and industrial growth constrained by limited power access, African officials argue that hydrocarbons remain essential to unlocking long-term development.
In an opinion piece for The Guardian Fiona Harvey and Matthew Taylor wrote that it was time for gas exploration in Africa to stop.
Image: Africa Oil Corp.
“Africa must embrace renewable energy and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said,” they wrote.
Africa’s oil and gas downstream market, currently valued at USD 80.5 billion, is projected to reach USD 120.8 billion by 2032, positioning the continent as the world’s next frontier for downstream growth. Demand across Africa is expected to rise by 2.2 million barrels per day (MMB/D) between 2019 and 2035, representing a 2.3 percent annual growth rate.
Galp last year undertook an exploration campaign in Namibia, where discoveries by oil majors such as Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE have drawn international attention. The company also holds licenses in São Tomé and Príncipe, an island nation off Africa’s west coast where it recently teamed up with Shell and Petrobras.
According to Emmanuelle Garinet, VP of Exploration Africa at TotalEnergies, Africa’s frontier basins hold significant volumes. She pointed to Namibia as an example of how seismic and subsurface data can de-risk projects: “When we decided to drill the Venus well, it was frontier, but we had a probability of success of more than 50% because of the seismic data and direct hydrocarbon indicators.”
TotalEnergies’ Venus project in Namibia’s Orange Basin is the kind of discovery that makes oil executives’ eyes light up and governments dream of windfalls. The discovery – made in February 2022 – was immediately recognized as one of the African continent’s largest in decades, with an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of light crude at 45 degrees API and 4.8 Tcf of natural gas. Expectations are high: peak output is projected at around 150,000 barrels a day and the field could remain productive for 30-40 years.