Stakeholders to Discuss West Africa’s Gas, Energy Markets

By Dipo Olowookere

The opportunities for cross-border power projects and potential gas investments across West Africa will be on the front burner when stakeholders in the energy sector converge at the second Regional Energy Co-operation Summit slated for January 24-25, 2018, in Côte d’Ivoire.

The event is hosted by the EnergyNet, a strategic platform for project evolution and partnership development.

At the first Regional Energy Co-operation Summit in January 2017, the Ivorian Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energies, Mr Thierry Tanoh, summed up the relevance of the summit with his statement; “The importance of the theme (Regional Energy Cooperation Summit) is well established in the light of the needs of African countries in terms of access to different energy sources, including renewable energies.”

The 2018 Summit will review outcomes from last year’s meeting, identifying next steps and bringing together ECOWAS decision-makers and global energy investors to advance regional partnerships and interconnection projects.

Programme Manager Valeria Aruffo commented; “Given the abundant reserves from many West African gas fields which will firstly be harnessed for power and domestic use, the summit will instigate the conversation surrounding the sub-region’s booming global gas market. We’ll focus on export and import capacities, balancing domestic obligation and regional trade, and of course the role of LNG in facilitating gas development in the sub-region.”

With the overarching theme of regional integration in West Africa, the summit will gather ECOWAS energy ministers and government representatives, heads of utilities, regulators, power developers, technology providers, financiers and multilateral agencies from across West Africa to discuss how to unlock investments for the development of power projects.

Alongside partners ENGIE, Manitoba Hydro, Metka, Wartsila & Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), the Summit is officially endorsed by Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), ANER, Energy Commission Ghana and the Electricity Company of Ghana.