Africa Petroleum Week: a key event for the continent's future energy sector
Africa Oil Week (AOW) 2021 has become a new platform for discussions and decision-making for the future of Africa's energy sector. The United Arab Emirates hosted the event in Dubai from 8 to 11 November and was attended by more than 35 government representatives from Africa and the Middle East and several executives from the world's largest oil and gas companies.
Representatives from Uganda, Kenya, Gabon, Mozambique, Djibouti, Eritrea, Mauritania, Senegal, and The Gambia are among the 45 ministers and government leaders who have come to Oil Week to showcase investment opportunities in their respective countries. Along with these governments, national and international oil companies, independents, investors, and service providers have also attended the 27th edition of the event, the most relevant so far. The African Continental Free Trade Area has also contemplated its presence in this symposium.
During the four days of Africa Petroleum Week, symposia and discussion spaces were held to drive investment and deal making across the continent, giving investors the opportunity to showcase their offerings. Governments presented their national strategies, offering geological data and analysis, bidding, fiscal and operational policies.
"Africa Petroleum Week is one of the most important global events today. It is at the forefront in promoting Africa's oil and energy sector," said Fafa Sanyang, Minister of Energy and Petroleum of the Republic of The Gambia. His Mauritanian counterpart, Minister Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh, argued that "this is an opportunity to exchange important issues such as the ecological transition" and added that he would "invite all ministers to come to this platform".
Another objective of the Africa Petroleum Week is to draw up a roadmap towards a sustainable and decarbonised economy. Driving this energy transition would set the agenda for action on all processes of oil extraction, from the exploitation of the land to the role of digitalisation and technology today. The goal: to achieve a clean and competitive energy future for the continent.
Africa Petroleum Week changed its venue from Cape Town to Dubai. This decision was taken at a meeting in Malabo last June and was made because of the critical, they said, health situation in South Africa caused by COVID-19.
There was some division of opinion over holding Africa Oil Week in Dubai, but Maggy Shino, Namibia's Petroleum Commissioner, indicated that it was understood that "hosting the event in Dubai this year is a sensible and defensible decision given the current pandemic".
The latest decision, however, is to hold the next Africa Petroleum Week event in Cape Town in 2022.