A week in Paris discussing oil in Africa

This week, I had the rare privilege of attending the Invest in African Energy Forum in Paris, France.

The event was put together by the African Energy Chamber in partnership with Afrexim Bank and Rystad Energy.

I was invited to the event as a speaker and I sat on a very eminent panel moderated by Ethienne Kolly, an associate director of S&P Global Commodity Insights; Marco Villa, the chief operating officer of Technip Energies, a leading engineering and technology company in the energy space; Dr Carole Nakhale, the CEO of Crystal Energy; Ian Cloke, the founder and chief operating officer of Afentra.

Mr Cloke was formerly the executive vice president of Tullow Oil and had led the successful Tullow exploration campaign in Uganda and Maggie Shino, the incredibly impressive commissioner of petroleum and mines of Namibia. It was an incredible privilege for me to be invited to sit among such industry giants and share my views.

Just before our panel started, the executive vice president of Rystad Energy, Bimbola Kolawale, gave an impressive overall global sector outlook for oil and gas. They told us, for example, that in 2022 global oil production is estimated at 81.16 million barrels of oil per day and 2023 oil production is expected at a higher 85.3 million barrels of oil per day.

Global production for the next 10 years is expected to continue rising with increased oil flows from North America and the Middle East. On the renewable side, Africa’s contribution to global solar PV, onshore wind and hydrogen in 2022 will be 2 percent, 1 percent and 0.5 percent. We still have 600 million Africans with no access to power and almost a billion Africans using biomass like firewood and charcoal to cook.

Asian financial institutions continue to be the leaders in funding fossil fuel projects, but European institutions are also expected to fund gas developments as EU rules gas investments as “green” to meet the demand post-Russia - Ukraine conflict. Gas became “green” when it became scarce in Europe.

There were many countries present. Officials from Senegal, Namibia, the Republic of Congo to mention a few. One of the most impressive countries at the event was Namibia. The aggressive and absolutely intelligent way they came to show case their potential was brilliant as are the steps they are taking to develop oil, gas and be the continent leader in hydrogen. Thanks to new technology, gas fields that for the last 45 years were considered uneconomic now have incredible potential.

On my part, I made the argument that it is completely unacceptable to stop Africa from developing her vast energy potential. It is not just unfair it is terribly unwise. It is the only continent with a growing population and has the world’s youngest population. Every year we are cutting down 44 million hectares of trees in a continent that has 28 percent of its land mass covered by trees. Poverty is now an environmental danger. Poverty conservation which some Western NGOs masquerading as environmentalists have been pushing is now a complete danger to the environment.

As I previously argued here, Paul Collier, the Oxford economist, once pointed out that whereas OECD (rich countries) states have $114,000 of known subsoil assets Africa only has $23,000 because the continent remains terribly under explored. We need to sign deals, drill wells and produce oil and gas.

I, therefore, made the case for the continued investment in Africa and highlighted the incredible opportunity that is Uganda where from almost 30 percent of the Albertine graben we have established a world class resource. Our oil project consists of the Eacop pipeline a smart and technologically impressive project by any standard and a 60,000 barrels of oil per day refinery.

Investment forums have incredible value. They showcase opportunities, widen networks, broaden horizons and deepen relationships. It was, therefore, a great honour for me to be invited and to speak to such a distinguished audience of investors, business leaders, thought leaders and officials from all over Africa.

As our minister of Energy always says, “When it comes to energy we must as Africans speak with one voice”.

The writer is an advocate and partner at Kampala Associated Advocates

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