Invest in African Energy 2024 forum to explore role of Europe’s leading IOEs in strengthening Africa’s oil and gas regulatory frameworks
Growing partnerships between European and African companies are playing a key role in shaping Africa’s oil and gas regulatory frameworks. Through collaborative efforts and joint mandates, these partnerships aim to promote energy security, industrialization and environmental sustainability by promoting mutually beneficial projects across the continent.
The upcoming Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2024 forum – scheduled for 14-15 May in Paris – will explore how European investors and African energy markets are working together to renew oil and gas regulations and promoting sustainable development while attracting oil and gas investment. Renewed cooperation with European international oil companies (IOCs) such as Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, bp and Technip Energies serves to strengthen African energy policies and fiscal conditions, with tangible results.
In Senegal, bp’s partnership with national oil company Petrosen resulted in the landmark discovery and development of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project and prompted Senegal to revise its existing oil and gas code. The review resulted in the introduction of a new Petroleum Code in 2019 aimed at improved revenue collection for the West African country while attracting further investment in upstream exploration.
In Angola, the government’s long-standing partnerships with entities such as Eni, TotalEnergies and bp not only boosted exploration and production activities, but directly shaped the fiscal and regulatory framework. A Presidential Task Force established in 2019 recruited the country’s top IOCs to help amend three presidential decrees and enact two new laws. Areas of focus included streamlining the process of managing oil concessions and implementing incentives for investment in frontier fields, with the task force serving as a model for successful public-private engagement.
In Nigeria, European IOCs – who also represent the country’s top hydrocarbon producers – have played a major role in shaping and enacting the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. The long-awaited legislation serves to facilitate a just energy transition, upgrade upstream operations , middle and downstream, and strengthening the country’s competitiveness on a global scale. As a result, it is considered one of the greatest achievements in the Nigerian energy sector to date.
European-African partnerships are also extending to the development of local content, with an emphasis on capacity building and the exchange of knowledge and technology. Namibia has implemented the 2021 National Upward Local Content Policy to boost the participation of local actors in the country’s growing oil and gas sector. The policy comes in response to growing collaboration between Namibia and European companies including Shell and TotalEnergies in the exploration of the offshore Orange Basin, which has led to five large-scale oil discoveries in the past 24 months.
Finally, Europe is playing a key role in helping Africa shape its policy on environmental management and sustainability, leading to initiatives such as Nigeria’s Methane Emissions Reduction Guidelines and Gas Flare Commercialization Program, which aim to reduce carbon emissions and in minimizing the ecological impacts of oil and gas projects. Partnership initiatives such as the Global Gateway Investment Package and the Just Energy Transition Partnerships have sought to strengthen cooperation between Africa and Europe, focusing on the development, utilization and financing of natural gas resources to enhance energy security and facilitate a just energy transition. Recognizing the critical role of natural gas in enhancing energy supply, several African countries – such as those with comprehensive gas policies such as Ghana’s Gas Master Plan and Mauritania’s Energy Vision 2030 – are actively implementing strategies to maximize sector expansion, in collaboration with European partners.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.