All is now set for the first Oil and Gas Africa Finance and Investment Conference (OGAFIC) organised by the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA), aimed at sensitising financial institutions on the imperatives of mobilising resources needed to finance investments in the sector.
This is in view of the enormous financing challenges facing the development of the oil industry in Africa which has hindered the continent from fully utilising its oil and gas reserve and increase its share of global reserves and production.
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According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2009 report, Africa’s gas production could grow by 5.2 per cent a year to 277 billion cubic meters by 2015, thereby positioning it to become the fastest growing gas region after the Middle East.
For this to happen, the Executive Director, APPA Fund for Technical Cooperation, Dr. Babafemi Oyewole, in a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, emphasised the need for the forum to strategise on mobilising the financial resources required for the continent to meet this projection.
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The IEA in its report said not less that $17 trillion, of which $8 trillion are in the emerging and developing countries, should be mobilised to meet the investment needs at the global level in the energy sector over the next 25 years.
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“In this regard, the congress will seek to generate ideas on the role financial institutions can play in developing the oil and gas industry in Africa with respect to financing investments projects,” Oyewole said.
Speaking earlier, permanent Secretary in the Ministry of petroleum, Engr. Sheihk Goni, said the two-day conference with the theme “The Role of Financial Institution in Financing Oil and Gas Investments Projects in Africa,” would hold on November 15 and 16 in Abuja, Nigeria.
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The conference, Goni said, “would be a trading exhibition and knowledge sharing platform for oil and gad investment in the African continent by bringing together the 17 members countries of APPA as well as all stakeholders in the industry including representative from national and international oil companies.” ?
“Our task is enormous as we prepare to host 17 members’ countries of APPA and other international guest at the conference. I am soliciting for your collective efforts, and commitment towards the success of the conference,” Goni said.
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