Operations Director of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Effiong Okon, says Africa’s remains a choice destination for gas development and investment across the globe.
In a keynote address at the Africa E & P Summit which brings together key players and senior executives in the oil sector and governments involved in African oil and gas business, recently in London, Okon said Seplat currently contributes about 30% of Nigeria’s domestic gas supply.
Given the huge opportunity in the country, he continued, the company continues to make a significant investment of well over $300m at growing its gas business, resulting in its massive current daily production capacity.
This, he noted, is on the back of the abundant discoveries of oil and gas reserves, which he stressed, have over the years, attracted key international oil companies to the continent. Alongside these majors is the rising of the independents who have also come into existence and have continued to grow in leaps and bounds.
Speaking on the topic, ‘oil and gas rising in Africa’, Okon provided an overview of the oil and gas landscape in Africa, adding that: “The appetite for African oil and gas is still growing and continues to present significant investment opportunities. Investors are attracted to the many recent and ongoing licence bid rounds in the continent.
“Most of the oil majors and the independent companies have continued to flourish with some exporting not just oil but also gas out of the continent. Most companies had to restrategise portfolio balancing after the recent downturn in oil price. Assets have been changing hands between the oil majors and the Independents.”
Seplat’s “well stock is capable of delivering around 400MMscfd (gross).
“In addition to these, our Sapele Gas Plant upgrade and Assa North-Ohaji South (ANOH) project is to add 315MMscfd capacity by 2020,” Okon noted, adding that of the top-20 discoveries globally between 2012 and 2016, Africa had the greatest contribution, compared to any other area.
According to him, 2019 looks promising for Africa with discoveries in South Africa, Egypt, and Angola, especially as “Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, some of them lifted by new oil and gas discoveries.
“An estimated 7.5% of global proven oil reserves (126.5bn bbls) and 7.1% of global proven gas reserves (487.8Tcf ) sits in Africa.
“Oil and gas play a strategic role in economies of African countries giving them power and influence on the world stage, and this trend is likely to continue with new discoveries in Ghana, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mozambique, and Uganda.”
These opportunities, he highlighted, have attracted the majors with increasing participation of indigenous oil companies.
Some challenges, he however continued, still exist despite the significant discoveries and impressive production of oil and gas across the continent, which has a good balance of oil and gas.
Africa, he stressed, has a good balance of oil and gas but still faces the challenge of importing the refined products with the lack of sufficient refining capacity, adding that “a lot of people in Africa still do not have access to electricity. Lack of adequate infrastructure also still presents a problem.
“These challenges present huge opportunities for gas development and investment. As a result, a company like Seplat has remained bullish with its gas development. Seplat, with a strategic location on the gas hub in the Niger Delta, facilitates its gas development.
The growing need for capital for emerging infrastructure such as refining and transportation of petroleum commodities and products and the development of robust petrochemical industry, he believes, place the continent at a vantage point for investments.