Nigeria and other African nations are becoming a significant investment magnet as fresh discoveries position the continent as a guarantor of energy security to emerging Asian countries, a report from the Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT) has indicated.
Quoting secondary resources, it stated that Africa accounted for 8.8 per cent of the world’s oil production in 2019, whereas Nigeria had been Africa’s top oil producer at 2.2 per cent; Algeria was next at 1.6 per cent; then Angola, 1.5 per cent while Libya’s production was 1.3 per cent.
The report released recently indicated that Africa contributed 6 per cent to the world’s natural gas generation in 2019, together with Algeria standing as the continent’s top gas producer at a worldwide share of 2.2 per cent followed by Egypt, 1.6 per cent, and Nigeria, 1.2 per cent.
“Keen to add to its reserve base, Nigeria is currently preparing a new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), and the government has provisionally granted tenders to create 57 marginal oil fields, with $500 million in signature bonuses at stake.
“Nigeria is targeting marginal fields for the first time in 20 years as the country appears not just to boost its revenues but also to increase local involvement in the petroleum sector from indigenous businesses, which typically work these marginal fields.
“Involving more local involvement to produce Nigeria’s oil riches may also help tamp down the sabotage, theft, and security problems that Shell blames to the drop in its Nigerian production from 266,000 BOED from 2019 to 223,000 in 2020, based on its annual report,” the report emphasized.
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It said that although Shell is climbing down its petroleum resources, it still continues to focus on gas and deep water, including that in May 2020, Shell Gas announced it had attained a last investment decision to add a seventh train to Nigeria’s Bonny Island centre, adding 8 mtpa of future liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity.
In Angola, it said that Last month, Angola’s National Oil, Gas, and Biofuel’s Agency kicked off a series of electronic and in-person roadshows and specialized demonstrations to market blocks offered in the country’s 2020 ongoing bidding around.
To attract investors, the report said that Nigeria and Angola are having to navigate not just the pandemic’s impact on financial markets, but also stiff competition from frontier areas such as Guyana and Suriname which share West Africa’s fertile geology and therefore are catching current headlines.
Besides upping its investment in Nigeria LNG, it noticed that Shell can also be playing a role in the re-emergence of Egypt as a regional LNG supplier in the southern Mediterranean.
“BP’s statistical review ranks Nigeria as Africa’s top LNG manufacturer at 28.8 Bcm in 2019; Algeria follows 16.6 Bcm; Angola, 5.8 Bcm; and Egypt at 4.5 Bcm.
