Organisers Line up Experts for Africa Oil Week Conference

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Some experts in the oil and gas industry have been lined up for the Africa Oil Week (AOW) virtual conference taking place between October 7 and 8, 2020.

A statement from the organisers said Somalia’s Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Mr Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, is one of the speakers for the event.

He will be joined by the CEO of Somali Petroleum Authority, Ibrahim Ali Hussein; the Regional Director (Africa) of Castor Vali, Phil McDonald; the Senior Business Development Manager AME at TGS, Dr Alessio Checconi; the co-founder & Director Exploration of Ventura International Energy, Scot Fraser; and the Senior Associate Energy at IHS Markit, Daniel Berkove.

Among other industry leaders confirmed to speak in the online conference are: Tracey Henderson, Chief Exploration Officer, Kosmos Energy; Liv Hovem, CEO, DNV GL; Dr Alex Irune, COO, Oando Energy Resources; Christine Roche, Manager – AMME, PGS; Adam Pollard, Senior Research Analyst, Sub-Saharan Africa Upstream Oil & Gas, Wood Mackenzie; Chris Hindle, Director, Critical Resource with more speakers expected to be revealed in the lead up to the event.

For the past 26 years, the Africa Oil Week has been the meeting place of choice for the continent’s upstream oil and gas sector, bringing together governments, national and international oil companies, independents, investors, the G&G community and service providers.

The goal of this year’s programme is to reconnect the African upstream following a tumultuous year that has featured unprecedented supply and demand shocks in the sector.

Participants will look into the Somalia Licensing Round: De-risking Above Ground Factors session to get the first opportunity to hear directly from the senior members of the Somali government about licensing round details, following the official announcement made on August 4. Security and geophysical experts will also be on hand to provide insights and answer questions.

It was stated that by popular demand, the event will also be shining the spotlight on the West African region, from Côte D’Ivoire to Nigeria in the West Africa Regional Focus: New Ventures & Opportunities session and the Interactive debate: natural gas versus renewables session aimed to answer which is the most viable energy source for Africa as well as investment, infrastructure, technology and ESG required.

In addition, senior executives will deliver insights on which new ventures, projects and geographies they’re prioritising in the new post-pandemic landscape.