Oluchi Chibuzor
The Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (AEC), NJ Ayuk, has referred to as on African governments to speed up oil and gasoline exploration, broaden vitality infrastructure and mobilise financing for home initiatives, arguing that the continent should prioritise vitality safety and financial improvement to sort out widespread vitality poverty.
Ayuk, who spoke on the African Energy Week (AEW) held just lately, urged governments to undertake an “all-of-the-above” vitality technique that accommodates oil, gasoline, renewable vitality and different sources to meet the continent’s rising vitality wants.
He argued that Africa ought to resist exterior strain to go away its hydrocarbon assets undeveloped whereas tens of millions of individuals lack dependable electrical energy and entry to trendy vitality companies.
“Energy poverty is not a climate strategy, and deprivation is not development,” he stated, stressing that the continent wanted to pursue vitality insurance policies that mirrored its improvement priorities and financial realities.
Ayuk stated Africa was approaching a important second within the international vitality market, with geopolitical tensions and disruptions to worldwide provide chains highlighting the significance of dependable vitality provides.
He maintained that vitality safety trusted infrastructure, logistics, funding and efficient execution, fairly than coverage declarations alone.
According to him, Africa should urgently develop electrical energy grids, pipelines, factories and different infrastructure wanted to assist industrialisation, enhance residing requirements and create jobs.
Ayuk stated the continent’s hydrocarbon manufacturing was projected to attain 11 million barrels of oil equal per day in 2026 and enhance to 12.5 million barrels by 2030.
He recognized Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Libya and Egypt as main contributors to Africa’s oil and gasoline manufacturing, whereas urging different international locations to enhance their regulatory frameworks and funding circumstances to unlock extra assets.
On Nigeria, Ayuk stated reforms to deepwater fiscal and contractual phrases had been vital to attracting funding and reaching the nation’s manufacturing ambitions.
He additionally cited Angola’s use of fiscal incentives to revitalise mature oilfields, arguing that established petroleum-producing international locations wanted to preserve funding in current property whereas creating new reserves.
Ayuk challenged South Africa to tackle regulatory and legislative obstacles affecting the event of its petroleum assets, significantly within the Orange Basin.
He argued that discoveries in neighbouring Namibia had strengthened the case for additional exploration and improvement planning within the wider offshore area.
The AEC chairman urged South African authorities to present larger regulatory readability, take away pointless limitations and speed up selections required to appeal to funding into potential petroleum areas.
He additionally highlighted rising exploration alternatives in frontier basins, together with Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia, the place new agreements with worldwide oil corporations may assist revive curiosity in underexplored petroleum provinces.
Ayuk referred to as for a balanced method that may encourage funding in each frontier and mature basins, noting that near-field exploration, brownfield optimisation and improved contractual phrases had been essential to offset pure manufacturing declines.
He argued that African international locations couldn’t obtain sustainable development in oil and gasoline manufacturing with out constant exploration and funding.
“Exploration is the absolute key to our survival,” he stated, including that creating the continent’s assets remained vital to efforts to eradicate vitality poverty.
The AEC chairman additionally highlighted the deliberate Africa Energy Bank as a possible supply of financing for oil, gasoline and different vitality initiatives throughout the continent.
He expressed appreciation to the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for his or her roles in advancing the initiative, describing the proposed establishment as an vital step in direction of strengthening Africa’s capability to finance its vitality improvement.
Ayuk argued that African vitality initiatives confronted difficulties securing worldwide financing amid altering funding insurance policies and restrictions affecting fossil gasoline developments.
He criticised what he described as inconsistent approaches to gasoline financing, arguing that pure gasoline continued to play an vital position in supporting industrial exercise and vitality safety in developed economies whereas related initiatives in Africa confronted mounting funding constraints.
He urged African monetary establishments and industrial banks to enhance assist for viable vitality initiatives, saying the continent wanted stronger home financing mechanisms to scale back its dependence on exterior capital.
According to him, predictable rules, bankable contracts and entry to long-term financing could be important to unlocking funding and stopping commercially viable assets from remaining undeveloped.
Ayuk cited the Dangote Petroleum Refinery for example of how large-scale funding in home vitality infrastructure may strengthen provide safety and scale back dependence on imported petroleum merchandise.
He stated the refinery had helped tackle petroleum-product provide constraints in Africa and had additionally created alternatives for exports to worldwide markets, together with Europe.
The AEC chairman argued that the venture demonstrated the significance of creating home refining capability and processing pure assets regionally fairly than relying predominantly on imported completed merchandise.
He urged African international locations to undertake an identical method to worth addition throughout their vitality industries, saying native processing may assist industrialisation, enhance provide resilience and create employment.
Ayuk additionally referred to as for larger cooperation between African international locations and different members of the Global South, particularly expressing assist for Venezuela’s efforts to develop its petroleum assets regardless of exterior financial restrictions.
He urged African traders to discover alternatives in Venezuela, arguing that creating international locations may benefit from stronger vitality partnerships and funding cooperation.
He additionally inspired African companies and traders to have interaction with Grenada, which he stated was searching for strategic partnerships to develop its offshore vitality potential.
Beyond vitality improvement, Ayuk condemned xenophobia and hostility in direction of overseas nationals, significantly in South Africa, describing such incidents as inconsistent with the spirit of African integration and financial cooperation.
He endorsed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s opposition to xenophobia and Afrophobia, stressing that the vitality trade trusted collaboration amongst staff, traders, engineers and companies from totally different international locations.
Ayuk stated pipelines, energy grids and different vitality infrastructure linked economies throughout borders, making regional cooperation important to the continent’s improvement.
He additionally warned African governments towards useful resource nationalism that might discourage funding by way of unpredictable regulatory adjustments, retroactive compliance necessities and extreme state fairness calls for.
While acknowledging the significance of native content material and making certain that host international locations profit from their pure assets, he stated such insurance policies wanted to be applied in ways in which didn’t undermine investor confidence or make initiatives commercially unviable.
“Isolation is economic suicide,” he stated, arguing that African international locations wanted worldwide partnerships, predictable fiscal regimes and secure contractual preparations to appeal to the capital required to develop their assets.
Ayuk urged governments to scale back bureaucratic delays, honour contractual commitments and speed up approvals for viable vitality initiatives.
He stated public officers must be judged by the outcomes they delivered and the investments they enabled, fairly than by the variety of initiatives delayed by administrative obstacles.
The AEC chairman maintained that Africa had the pure assets, workforce and funding alternatives required to broaden its vitality sector, however careworn that governments should create the circumstances for these benefits to translate into financial development.
He referred to as for a improvement technique that mixes vitality safety, infrastructure funding, entry to capital and regional cooperation, arguing that Africa ought to have the opportunity to decide how greatest to utilise its assets to meet its financial and social wants.
