African oil and gas exploration will look southwards

Subject

African oil and gas exploration.

Significance

Stakeholders in the African oil industry met in Cape Town in early November, for the annual Africa Oil Week conference, amid speculation of new prospects in South Africa and Namibia. While several countries in West and Central Africa are offering acreage in licensing rounds, oil and gas companies are focused on upcoming wells in Southern Africa, which will dictate decisions on companies’ future exploration focus.

Impacts

• Exploration success for Southern Africa’s most watched wells could bring an investment boost to new areas, such as South Africa.
• Angola and Nigeria will try pushing reforms and new licensing to revive a largely moribund exploration sector to renew reserves and growth.
• IOCs will need more reassurance before committing to new Nigerian investment after Buhari's failure in 2018 to sign a key industry bill.