The African Energy Chamber officially launches its book titled, ‘African Energy Road to Recovery: How The African Energy Industry Can Reshape Itself For A Post COVID-19 Comeback’; The book details recommendations, case studies, and solutions for how the industry can reshape itself to enable a post-COVID-19 comeback.
Africa’s oil and gas industry is facing extraordinary circumstances. An ongoing energy transition and new efforts to decarbonize the world are weighing on oil demand. The shale revolution is exacerbating these pressures. And of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought havoc on markets around the world, accelerating and intensifying existing trends.
The African Energy Chamber hosted its virtual book launch for its first book titled ”African Energy Road to Recovery: How the African energy sector can reshape itself for a post-COVID-19 comeback” alongside its advisory board members, moderated by Verner Ayukegba, SVP at the African Energy Chamber on March 16 at 4PM SAST.
The advisory board members, who lead the narrative within the book, provided insight into what the book has to offer and presented their own opinions and solutions to the sector’s recovery. “The book is an amazing thought process and is highly recommended to everyone as it gives important insight into the value chain. The opportunity for African independents is the prolific, hydrocarbon- rich basins within the continent. A credible plan for execution, supported by a strong management team, will always attract capital,” stated Kola Karim, CEO of Shoreline Natural Resources.
The book provides an in-depth look at the current African energy landscape through the provision of resources including maps and graphs, detailed analysis of risks and opportunities, and key insights from industry giants that provide a framework not only for moving forward in a post-COVID-19 context, but excelling. Through the presentation of interviews with industry experts and informative articles that seek to examine the entire energy value chain, the book is particularly critical in understanding the current context and catapulting Africa’s energy industry to success.
“There are some great discussion points in the book which seek to outline skills training and local content. NOC’s are working daily with international operators and having projects to foster the local content is really the right way to build skills and transfer knowledge,” stated Remi Mouchel, Director of Operations and Chairman of the Executive Board, IFP Training. “Everyone should take the time to buy this book,” stated Akinwole Omoboriowo II, Chairman, CEO of Genesis Energy Group. “The book is power packed with a lot of information and case studies. The beauty of energy transition is that it has been a deliberate policy for most African countries pre-Covid-19. The notion around producing power around technology has been very significant and as a result, reshaped Africa’s comeback post Covid.’’
With the abundance of sizeable discoveries, emerging large-scale projects, and Africa’s exponential range of opportunities for investment and growth across the continent, the book provides information and recommendations critical for the continent in moving forward post-COVID-19. The book is based on the advice and knowledge of the AEC’s advisory board, a group of industry executives and experts that offer the best solutions to Africa’s industry, and is critical for every current and potential stakeholder.
“You need to create a good system upfront that addresses the physical, cyber and technological components of assets and addresses those issues in a way that maintains operational resiliency,” stated C. Derek Campbell, CEO of Energy & Natural Resources, Inc. “The book does a good job of explaining technology and operational technology environment that comes together with African operators that need to look at how they operate in this industry 4.0 environment.”
“I am encouraging people who have not bought their copies to do so. As we look into the future, post Covid-19, we are going to see this continued infusion, conversions of the operational technology world which is where the oil and gas industry has deep experience.,” stated Jovita Nsoh, Regional CTO Strategy & Innovation, Microsoft. “I think South Africa is ready,” stated Nosizwe Macamo, Executive Chairman & Founder of Raise Africa Investments. “In the book, there is a whole section which talks about regulatory certainty.
In South Africa, we are finally at a point where we have a bill that deals directly with what the upstream should look like. When I look at the mature oil producing countries, like Nigeria, there is so much African countries can actually learn from each other.’’
The Road to Recovery addresses these challenges head-on, detailing all of the major challenges facing African oil and gas stakeholders, as well as workable solutions that will keep the industry on a strong and stable growth path. Again and again, our oil and gas sector has proven its resilience and adaptability. The world still needs oil and gas, and Africa still holds enormous untapped potential. The African Energy Chamber will remain a committed partner of choice for the industry as we advance into an uncertain future.
