AOW Virtual, an online summit from the team behind Africa Oil Week, took place 7-8 October with 30 speakers and hundreds of delegates dialled in from all over the world.
Day one of the conference began with the Operators’ Strategic Outlook session, in which senior representatives from Operators Kosmos Energy, Chariot Oil & Gas and Tullow Oil discussed the new ventures and geographies they are now prioritising within Africa.
Tullow Ghana Managing Director, Wissam Al Monthiry, was noticeably tight-lipped when quizzed on the company’s plans to sell assets as part of an effort to raise $1bn in proceeds to pay down debt.
He commented “(Apart from Uganda) we are looking at other asset sales to be able to get to that number, and we’re working hard to identify the right ones. All of our portfolios have aspects we’re excited about and have incremental value to Tullow, but it just becomes a question of trade-offs in today’s world”
However, speakers agreed that there were exciting opportunities in Africa for ‘Independents,’ who will undoubtedly play a more significant role on the continent as the majors look to meet ambitious emissions targets.
Kosmos Energy’s Tracey K Henderson stated, “Positioning ourselves to thrive in a longer-term low-price environment (…) has meant high-grading and rationalising of our portfolios, with a focus on ILX exploration (infrastructure-led exploration) and play extensions in proven basins.”
Linked to global emissions reductions targets is the rise of gas as a bridging fuel. Speakers across all sessions at AOW Virtual were excited about gas projects across the continent.
Opening day two of the event, Gwede Mantashe, South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, said, “We are re-positioning South Africa to be a serious player in the global gas market. We will promote the development of a domestic and regional gas market.
“We continue to advance our Gas to Power projects with the Coega Special Economic Zone identified as the first liquefied natural gas import terminal.”
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Chief Executive Officer, Tony Attah, is similarly positive in his outlook for gas.
“We took a big financial investment decision at the backend of last year – against the backdrop of what we call the Train 7 project – to grow capacity by 35 per cent, moving from 22m tonnes per annum today to 30m tonnes.”
Attah added that he was looking to increase the amount of gas NLNG sells within the African continent, the bulk of which previously went to the United States and is now exported to Europe.
When polled live at AOW Virtual, over 60 per cent of delegates said they saw a mixture of gas and renewables being key to securing Africa’s energy future in the coming decades.
Luc Koechlin, Managing Director Southern Africa at EDF and Andrew Herscowitz, Chief Development Officer at the International Development Finance Corporation, are advocates for solar power projects on the continent, the cost of which has decreased significantly in recent years.
On this topic, Herscowitz commented, “If you’ve got a solar project and if it’s going to be above 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, you’ve got some explaining to do. It’s a very different market than what it was five to 10 years ago.”
