African Petroleum Exploration is Going Strong – Ayuk
By Patience Chat Moses
The Executive Chairman (EC) of the African Energy Chamber (AEC), NJ Ayuk, has said that despite the call heard round the world commanding the global business community to divest from fossil fuels and shrink their carbon footprints in the name of net zero, international oil companies (IOCs) still recognize Africa as their next frontier.
This he said was contained in the African Energy Chamber’s recently released report, “The State of African Energy Q2 2023 Outlook,” which stated that oil and natural gas exploration in Africa is still strong.
According to Ayuk, following the massive Namibian discoveries in 2022, 2023 has been another banner year for African exploration, with half a billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe) in recoverable oil and gas reserves found around the continent to date.
His words: “As we have documented in our Q2 report, new discoveries from oil and gas exploration practically encircle the continent. From the small finds like Sasol’s Bonito-1 well in the PT5-C concession area of the Mozambique basin to Wintershall’s ED-2X in Egypt and Tatneft’s F1 discovery in Libya, Africa is proving itself as an emerging contender for the top supplier spot on the global petroleum market with a total discovered volume of oil and gas totaling nearly 500 MMboe in 2023 alone.”
Ayuk explained that, while it is encouraging to witness this revival of oil and gas exploration in Africa and to have our assertions confirmed that this continent represents the next frontier for the international energy majors, AEC sees these developments as merely the start of what will have to amount to a massive upgrade for our own domestic petroleum industry.
He further noted that in order to extract real prosperity from Africa’s fossil fuel resources, governments of every hydrocarbon-bearing African nation should create and maintain enabling business environments that attract foreign investment.
“We must also implore the leaders of these countries to act quickly upon discovery of new oil fields and warn them against letting a proven find languish under a heap of unnecessary red tape.
“There is no nuance about it. The oil industry represents income for Africans and advancement for Africa.
“An increase in exploration equates to new African jobs and business opportunities, and successful exploratory ventures attract further investment, leading to a rise in employment across many industries and accelerated economic growth for each host country,”he said.
