- At the 13th Africa Upstream conference, which opened today in Cape Town, optimism is present all over. Record oil prices and the world's least explored continent have it in for lucrative investments. International oil companies, hungrily flirting with African states, say the continent holds the key to steadily rising energy demands, and governments eagerly respond to the flirt.
Jean Michel Salvadori of France-based Total, the largest oil company in Africa present in most countries, made a presentation at Africa Upstream today, praising the rapid growth of oil production and known oil reserves in Africa. According to Total, Africa has already stood for "25 percent of the increase in worldwide oil reserves in the past ten years." Currently, 9.5 percent of all known oil reserves and 12 percent of oil production are in Africa.
Also in the growing gas market, Africa holds the future, according to Total. In the Atlantic Basin, which includes the gas markets of the Americas and Europe, Africa holds almost half the known reserves and is strategically located. North and East African gas reserves can be pipelined directly to the European market, while a trans-Saharan pipeline could connect even more major producers.
Total, which has been exploring in Gabon since 1932 and in Cameroon since 1946, expects the African continent to rapidly increase its importance for oil and gas markets in the coming years, as hydrocarbon resources are getting scarcer in the Middle East, Europe and North America. Only in Nigeria, Angola and Congo-Brazzaville, Total foresees annual production growth rates of more than 10 percent over the next five years. Total also foresees new oil production in Mauritania and Sudan; two countries where the company now only is exploring.
Also Wade Cherwayko of the London-based company Equator Exploration, one of the main sponsors of this year's event in Cape Town, praised African potentials today. Mainly into offshore oil exploration in West Africa, the company has managed to get its hands on lucrative interests in the waters of Nigeria and Săo Tomé and Príncipe. Mr Cherwayko saw now end to expansion.
During the rest of the week, conference guests also are to hear about remaining "African frontiers", with several presentation of potential future oil producing states. Ousseini Assane Boureima of Niger's Mining and Energy Ministry is to reveal new details of the oil exploration potential in little surveyed Niger and offer new blocks. Henri Coulibaly of the Malian Oil Exploration Promotion Agency AUREP is to present an outlook on oil exploration in Mali.
Countries where oil exploration is ongoing but that have not turned into serious producers yet are also well presented. Authorities from Tanzania, Kenya, Morocco, Săo Tomé, Ghana, Madagascar and Namibia are all trying to gather momentum for oil investments in their countries. Oil producers such as Angola, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Sudan are set to consolidate or expand.
The conference is seen as the key annual event for the booming oil business in Africa. Here, African government decision-makers meet senior oil executives, specialists and advisors. According to the organisers, Africa Upstream "stands apart as the foremost deal-making environment for the African exploration business."
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