Upstream

Can African oil producers help the world end reliance on Russian oil and gas?

The 8th African Petroleum Congress and exhibition (CAPE VIII) will take place from 16th-19th May, in Luanda, Angola.

By

Unlocking Africa’s oil and gas potential is now imperative against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the resulting crude, diesel, and gas supply crunch. This has rendered European dependence on Russian energy untenable, creating a major opportunity for Africa to position itself as a crucial option to increase the supply to the global energy markets. However, significant challenges remain for the continent’s hydrocarbon producers to suddenly ramp up their production due to infrastructure, finance, and technology deficits.

Countries with major LNG resources, such as Nigeria, Angola, Libya, and Algeria, suffer from limited and underdeveloped pipeline networks, refineries, jetties, terminals, and ports. Additionally, incentivizing foreign investment is often problematized by a host of risk factors, including political instability, local insecurity issues and financial institutions shifting investments from fossil fuels to renewables. Finally, securing the latest technology to facilitate local content development has proven cost prohibitive given the reliance on foreign intellectual property and the continual brain drain of key local human capital.

All the above issues will be discussed at the 8th Africa Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VIII) taking place from 16-19 May 2022 in Luanda, Angola.  The congress is organized by the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), the government of the Republic of Angola (for the first time), and AME Trade Ltd. The three-day event will be centered around the theme of “Energy Transition: Challenges and Opportunities in the African Oil and Gas Industry,” and assemble experts from the national, regional, and international energy and oil and gas industries to deliberate the challenges and opportunities of the energy transition and the future of the oil and gas industry in Africa.

CAPE VIII will unfold against the recession of the global pandemic that exacerbated record production declines across African hydrocarbon producing countries from 2020 to 2021. The annus horribilis was compounded by under-investment in exploration activities, leaving several of the continent’s biggest energy players struggling to cope with the post-lockdown surge in demand for hydrocarbons. Fortunately, APPO’s ambition to establish the continent as an energy hub regained significant headwind with a stellar upstream development outlook for 2022 and beyond.

The congress will be the ideal platform for Africa’s leading oil and gas producers to confront the foregoing challenges and engender solutions to maximize its oil and gas resources. Amid the drive by developed economies towards decarbonization and net-zero policies, attending energy stakeholders will have the opportunity to reinforce the case for regional integrated supply chains and pooling resources to leverage the catalytic power of hydrocarbons in a sustainable manner.

Supported by countless multinationals across the energy value chain and national oil companies, CAPE VIII will feature illuminating insight from a range of illustrious keynote speakers, who will mold the future landscape of energy in Africa and beyond.

Keynote speakers at the conference will include:

  • H.E. Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources of Angola, President of APPO
  • H.E. Mahamane Sani Mahamadou Issoufou, Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energy Republic of Niger
  • H.E. Samson Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, South Africa
  • H.E. Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Energy, Ghana,
  • H.E. Thomas Camara, Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Ivory Coast
  • Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General, African Petroleum Producers Association (APPO)
  • Ms.  Cany Jobe, Director of Exploration and Production , Gambia National Petroleum Corporation
  • Mr. Edson R Dos Santosi, CEO, SOMOIL
  • Dr. Ibrahim Mamane, Directeur Général, SONIDEP
  • Mr. Osam Iyahen , Vice President, Oil & Gas, Africa Finance Corporation
  • Mr. Bráulio de Brito, Chairman, Angola O&G Service Companies Association (AECIPA)
  • Mr. Zakaria Dosso, Managing Director, AEICORP
  • Mr. Matthieu Milandri, Head of Upstream Finance, Trafigura
  • Mr. Yann Pierre Albert Livulibutt Yangari, Independent Consultant
  • Mr. Dr. Babafemi Oyewole, the CEO of Energy Synergy Partners
  • Tim Dixon, Director and General Manager, IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme

Confirmed National Oil Companies at CAPE VIII include.

  • SONANGOL, Angola
  • SNH, Cameroon
  • SHT, Chad
  • Petroci, Cote d’Ivoire
  • SNPC, Congo
  • NNPC, Nigeria
  • Sonagol, Angola
  • GE Petrol, Equatorial Guinea
  • Sonagas, Equatorial Guinea

CAPE VIII is sponsored by the continent’s leading oil and gas players including: SONANGOL, TOTAL ENERGIES, EXXONMOBIL, CHEVRON, EQUINOR, TRAFIGURA, SOMOIL, BRIMONT, SHEARWATER.

Hawilti is a proud Communication Partner of Cape VIII.

Read more

Angola: Eni’s discovers at least 500m additional barrels at Ndungu field

Eni has upgraded its field estimate at Ndungu on Block 15/06 offshore Angola at 800 million to 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place following the successful drilling of the Ndungu-2 appraisal well. The Ndungu-1 discovery well had been drilled in 2019 with original oil in place (OIIP) of 257m barrels according to Sonangol. With Ndungu-2, Eni has potentially discovered an additional 500m to 700m barrels of oil equivalent, confirming the tremendous success of its infrastructure-led exploration strategy in the country. Ndungu-2 marks the seventh discovery of Eni on Block 15/06 in four years. The adoption of an enabling environment by the administration of João Lourenço had led to the relaunch of the exploration campaign in 2018, which resulted in discoveries at Kalimba-1 and Afoxe-1 the same year. These were followed by Agogo-1, Ndungu-1 and Agidigbo-1 in 2019, and Cuica-1 in 2021. Source: MinFin Angola Out of these, Agogo benefited from incentives by being granted marginal status under the Presidential Legislative Decree 6/18 of May 2018. It was put on stream and started producing in January 2020 as a tie-back to the N’Goma FPSO. It is now being subject to a full field development planning with a new FPSO hub in the making. Cuica was next and achieved first oil in August 2021 from the Armada Olombendo FPSO. The vessel also started receiving production from the Cabaça North field in September 2021. Ndungu-1 came next, with first oil achieved in early 2022 via an early production scheme tied-back to the N’Goma FPSO. A second producer well is now expected at Ndungu in Q4 2022, according to Eni. Full details on the exploration and development activities on Block 15/06 are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

Invictus Energy commits to more gas exploration onshore Zimbabwe

Geo Associates, who is about to drill in Zimbabwe what is believed to be the largest undrilled structure onshore Africa, has just committed to a second well this year. The company is a subsidiary of Australian independent Invictus Energy and holds an 80% interest in SG 4571 over the Cabora Bassa Basin in northern Zimbabwe. The area had already been explored by Mobil back in the 1990s, when the American major spent $30m acquiring surface and subsurface data, including gravity surveys and over 1,600 line kilometres of 2D seismic data. Back then, the massive 200km2 Mzarabani anticline had been identified and mapped, believed to host a conventional gas target. Last year, Polaris Natural Resources acquired 402.2km of 2D seismic over the license to support exploratory drilling by Exalo Drilling in June this year. The Mzarabani Prospect alone is estimated to contain 8.2 Tcf of gas and 250 million barrels of conventional gas / condensate (gross mean unrisked) across 5 horizons. But Geo Associates has decided to bet even higher on Cabora Bassa and has just signed a Heads of Agreement with the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe (SWFZ) to amalgamate SG 4571 with SWFZ’s MSC003 Cabora Bassa South Reserved Area. As a result the licence area has increased sevenfold from 100,000 ha to 709,300ha andnow covers the entire Cabora Bassa Basin in Zimbabwe. The company notably committed to increase its minimum work programme obligations for SG 4571’s second exploration period, which runs to June 2024. These include the acquisition of an additional 400km line of seismic data in the expanded area, and the drill of a second exploration well as part of the drilling campaign set to start in the middle of this year. Full details on the Cabora Bassa Gas Project onshore Zimbabwe are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.