Africa’s oil and gas industry is on the up. Offshore activity in West Africa has been ongoing, while significant growth is expected from East Africa.
“There are the traditional oil producers such as Angola, Nigeria and Ghana, and no doubt the recovery of the oil price has given these countries some much-needed breathing space,” Duncan Bonnett, an analyst and director at Africa House, told FTW. “But, we are also starting to see countries like Nigeria and Senegal become gas players.”
One of the projects to keep an eye on is the Tortue gas project. While it is not expected to produce any gas before 2021, it is the sheer size of this find that is notable.
An estimated resource of 15 trillion cubic feet of gas is said to be located offshore on the border between Mauritania and Senegal. BP holds the largest investment in the project which has moved to Final Investment Decision.
“There are developments all along the east coast of Africa. There is an energy belt stretching from the coal fields of South Africa and Botswana all the way up to South Sudan and Sudan,” said Bonnett. “Other than the gas developments in Mozambique there are also projects in Tanzania and Rwanda, while countries such as Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan are looking at oil developments.”
In Rwanda, $100 million has been invested in the development of a 106MW methane gas power plant at Lake Kivu, while a 1.445km-long crude oil pipeline between Uganda and Tanzania is currently under construction to transport crude oil from the Uganda oil fields to the Tanzanian port of Tanga.
