Economy
Anxiety as 24th Africa Oil Week Draws Closer
By Dipo Olowookere
Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry in Africa are eagerly gearing up for the forthcoming 24th Africa Oil Week, which holds in Cape Town, South Africa, from 23-27 October.
At the moment, organisers of leading international oil and gas event have announced highlights of the internationally renowned programme.
The restrained business climate that has reigned over the industry for the past few years demanded that all operators review and adapt their business models and the way they operate. By the same token, the organisers of Africa Oil Week had to radically rethink the content for this year’s edition to meet the needs of delegates in search of solutions for tackling new challenges.
ITE’s Vice President for Africa, Sonika Greyvenstein, says, “We pride ourselves on being recognised as the world’s leading Africa-focused oil and gas event. To retain this title, we really had to think outside the box to design a programme that offers something over and above our renowned networking and deal-making opportunities – we want to give delegates access to revolutionary new ways of working, so they go away with knowledge, tools and methods to help them face a fast-evolving industry”.
The result is a programme strong on skills, solutions and strategies and infused with talks and debates of an ethical, political and motivational nature.
With the aim of providing the most current status of African and international policy, ITE has ramped up the presence of top ranking government officials. Rick Perry, US Energy Secretary, has been invited to speak as guest of honour at a session on global energy policy as well as during his department’s presentation of its LNG Handbook, designed to facilitate LNG projects in Sub-Saharan African nations.
In terms of African oil and gas ministers, participants will be able to engage directly with them on issues crucial to their investment plans and projects at the Ministerial Panel on African government strategies for “Attracting Operators and Investment”.
It includes presentations covering fiscal reforms and investment opportunities from the oil and gas ministers of Egypt, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Republic of Congo and Namibia. South African Minister of Energy, Mmamoloko Kubayi, will open proceedings on Tuesday 24th October with a talk on the right energy mix for meeting environmental and development goals.
The Côte d’Ivoire Roadshow, presided over by Minister Thierry Tanoh, will promote the country’s hydrocarbons code and introduce its energy strategy 2020 along with available blocks coming up for licensing, thereby providing further opportunities for showcasing its investment environment as well as its petroleum code and legal and fiscal framework.
Mali, ranked one of the most dynamic countries in the region by the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report and winner of the AIM “Investment Award” for its incentive-strengthening reforms, is promoting its five oil-rich basins. Mr Hamed Ag Mohamed, Director-General of the Authority for the Promotion of Oil Research, will present the investment framework and its Public-Private Partnership policy.
A not-to-be-missed event is the debate “Phasing Out Fossil Fuels: The Moral Case”. Alex Epstein, Founder and President of the Center for Industrial Progress and author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” will pitch his pro-fossil fuels argument against that of renewable energy development and investment pioneer Charlotte Aubin-Kalaidjian, co-Founder and CEO of GreenWish Partners. Later in the day, Mr Epstein is the guest speaker at the invitation-only VIP & CEO Luncheon, to be held in the Exhibition Ballroom.
Contributing to the cutting edge content is the AAPG Science Seminar, comprising three half-day forums focusing on energising the growing world through knowledge and technology. This is especially important considering that the new wave of exploration is spearheaded by digital technology which, in turn, paves the way for new careers.
This digital aspect of the industry is of special interest to the students and graduates attending the Young Professional Roundtable discussions, during which they will be looking at the capabilities and skills that will secure their future in a constrained job market.
With the evolution of the industry requiring operators and stakeholders to be more resourceful and inventive, Africa Oil Week is bringing out some big guns in terms of analysis, inspiration and motivation. Daniel Silke, South African futurist and leading political economy analyst, kicks off the third day of the conference with a keynote on Africa’s resilience.
Mr Silke is renowned for his insights into issues surrounding global change, volatility and the future of the world. Then there’s Gilan Gork, renowned mentalist and master of influence. As a guest speaker at the SA Rugby Museum Cocktail Reception, Gilan will challenge delegates thinking while intelligently entertaining and motivating them.
Along with these exciting and innovative additions to this year’s Africa Oil Week programme, each session now includes an interactive Q&A, during which delegates can engage on a wide range of issues. In addition, there is an official Africa Oil Week App for IOS & Android devices to give delegates up-to-date information about the event, speakers, programme, networking sessions and venues and enabling them to post questions, participate in polls and contact other delegates.
Delegates who register by 30th September qualify for the £300 Early Bird Discount while companies registering three or more delegates benefit from an additional 10% discount.
All registration fees include access to the 17th Africa Independents Forum and the 24th Africa Upstream Conference and Exhibition but exclude the 80th PetroAfricanus Dinner and 9th Global Women Petroleum & Energy Club Luncheon, which must be booked separately. Companies registering three or more delegates benefit from an additional 10% discount.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
More petroleum marketers are looking to take advantage being offered by the Dangote Refinery in Lagos through its bulk-purchase incentives, allowing petrol stations to sell premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, cheaper to motorists.
Recall that recently, Dangote Refinery entered into a deal with MRS Oil Nigeria, Ardova Plc, Heyden for the purchase of petrol at least two million litres at N909 per litre.
With this agreement, MRS Oil has been able to dispense to customers at a pump price of N935 per litre across its stations in Nigeria.
For those not under this arrangement, they have been battling with price instability, especially after depot owners recently increased their price to N950 per litre from N909 per litre because of the rise in crude oil prices in the international market.
Worried by this and attracted by the bulk-purchase agreement incentives of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) is already having talks to buy directly from the Lagos-based oil facility.
The national president of the group, Mr Abubakar Maigandi Garima, said members are eager to sign on with Dangote Refinery for the bulk-purchase agreement.
He argued that members could not continue to depend on depot owners for products when they can buy directly from the refinery bearing in mind that the minimum quantity to buy from Dangote Refinery is two million litres at N909 per litre.
The desire to be part of the bulk-purchase agreement, it was also gathered, was also apparently being fuelled by the testimonies from motorists who have been praising the impressive burn rate of fuel sourced from Dangote Refinery and sold in MRS filing stations which they said lasts longer compared to other products imported into the country and sold by others.
The management of the Dangote Refinery, citing economic relief provided by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s crude-for-naira swap initiative, had announced a bulk-purchase offer incentives to the three leading downstream sector operators, so that Nigerians could heave a sigh of relief on the reduced pump price.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The World Bank has projected a 3.6 per cent economic growth for Nigerian in 2025 and 2026 on the back of ongoing reforms by the federal government.
The Bretton Wood institution in its report titled Global Economic Prospects, January 2025 published on Thursday, said recent reforms, including subsidy removal, Naira liberalisation and the introduction of tax reform bills would help to boost business confidence.
“In Nigeria, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth increased to an estimated 3.3 per cent in 2024, mainly driven by services sector activity, particularly in financial and telecommunication services.
“Macroeconomic and fiscal reforms helped improve business confidence. In response to rising inflation and a weak naira, the central bank tightened monetary policy.
“Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit narrowed due to a surge in revenues driven by the elimination of the implicit foreign exchange subsidy, following the unification of the exchange rate and improved revenue administration,” a part of the report stated.
The World Bank noted that the wider Sub-Saharan Africa, to which Nigeria belongs would see a 4.1 per cent growth in the current year, before seeing a 4.3 per cent rise in 2026.
“Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, SSA is expected to firm to 4.1 per cent in 2025 and 4.3 per cent in 2026, as financial conditions ease alongside further declines in inflation. Following weaker-than-expected regional growth last year, growth projections for 2025 have been revised upward by 0.2 percentage points, and for 2026 by 0.3 percentage points, with improvements seen across various subgroups. At the country level, projected growth has been upgraded for nearly half of SSA economies in both 2025 and 2026.
“Growth in Nigeria is forecast to strengthen to an average of 3.6 per cent a year in 2025-26. Following monetary policy tightening in 2024, inflation is projected to gradually decline, boosting consumption and supporting growth in the services sector, which continues to be the main driver of growth,” it added.
The global lender disclosed that oil production is expected to increase over the forecast period but remain below the 1.5 million barrels per day quota of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four price gainers helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange close higher by 0.35 per cent on Thursday, January 16.
The value of the trading platform jumped by N3.69 billion during the session to N1.072 trillion from the N1.068 trillion it closed in the preceding session, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made an addition of 10.67 points to wrap the session at 3,103.83 points compared with 3,093.16 points recorded at the previous session.
Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to its price yesterday to trade at 33 Kobo per unit compared with Wednesday’s closing price of 30 Kobo per unit, Newrest Asl Plc appreciated by N2.85 to N31.18 per share from N28.53 per share, 11 Plc gained N2.90 to close at N256.00 per unit versus the N253.10 per unit it finished a day earlier, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 21 Kobo to N39.16 per share, in contrast to midweek’s N38.95 per share.
On Thursday. there was an 85.3 per cent increase in the volume of securities traded by investors to 1.2 million units from the 666,494 units recorded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded surged by 8.9 per cent to N18.0 million from N16.5 million, and the number of deals leapt by 65 per cent to 33 deals from 20 deals.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units sold for N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc valued at 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 23.5 million units sold for N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc followed with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million.
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