We predicted that 2021 was unlikely to be a year in which the industry would reset itself, after the disruptions of 2020.
But we were mostly wrong. Things have returned faster than we imagined. A billion-barrel reserves discovery off Cote’D’Ivoire; the surge in Libyan output taking the war-ravaged country past Angola as the second highest producer on the continent; the record increase in output in Egypt’s natural gas, mostly for domestic consumption and a Final Investment Decision for new onshore natural gas development and accompanying power project in Mozambique, are notable highlights of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For all we know, 2022 may turn out to be the year of basin openings. Shell and TOTAL continue their probes of the orange basin off the contiguous coasts of Namibia-South Africa; ENI will test the Lamu basin off Kenya; ReconAfrica will drill the first seismically defined location in the Kavango Basin. The drilling campaign in Zimbabwe’s Cahora Bassa basin is close to start.
We expect Rig activity to increase as TOTALEnergies starts drilling for the gas in Mozambique; Ghana sees operating companies drilling obligatory wells they had not drilled for years; ENI commences appraisal of the massive Balline discovery in Cote ‘Divoire; Apache, bolstered by new, favourable agreement, increases its rig count onshore Egypt.
Downstream, Dangote rounds off construction of one of the world’s largest single train refineries; Ugandan government seeks investors to fund the state share of the Kabaale Refinery and Ghana’s state firms are open to private parties to construct a new gas processing plant as well as a large scale crude oil refinery.
That said, we invite you to become a paying subscriber of our monthly harvest and go through a number of operational events that will run through the year. Our theme is Who Is Doing What and Where in 2022?
The Africa Oil+Gas Report is the primer of the hydrocarbon industry on the continent. It is the market leader in local contextualizing of global developments and policy issues and is the go-to medium for decision makers, whether they be international corporations or local entrepreneurs, technical enterprises or financing institutions. Published by the Festac News Press Limited since 2001, AOGR is a paid subscription, monthly hard copy and e-copy publication delivered around the world. Its website remains www.africaoilgasreport.com, and the contact email address is info@africaoilgasreport.com. Contact telephone numbers in the West African regional headquarters in Lagos are +2348124374087, +2348130733523, +2347062420127, +2348036525979, +2348023902519.
–Editor