In a bid to secure and bolster access to future energy resources, East and Southeast Asian oil and gas players are investing heavily in sub-Saharan Africa’s extractives industry. For China, Africa is the country’s second-largest supplier of oil and gas, while Chinese national oil companies (NOCs) – including CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC – collectively represent the fourth-largest energy investor on the continent, behind oil and gas majors, bp, Shell and Eni. For Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, the continent represents a strategic opportunity for enhanced South-to-South cooperation, as well as presents significant demand for technical expertise and capabilities in developing its crude resources. The upcoming Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2024 Forum in Paris next May invites Asian oil and gas companies, service providers and investors to strengthen ties with their African counterparts and cement their position in the sub-Saharan market.
Exploration
Asian operators are accelerating their oil and gas activities across the continent, from frontier to mature markets. CNOOC is currently drilling for oil off the coast of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau in the joint maritime AGC Profond Block, holds a 100% operated interest in Blocks BC 9 and BCD 10 offshore Gabon, and is continuing to explore offshore the Republic of the Congo through its 45% operated interest in the Haute Mer A Block.
Last August, Indonesia’s Pertamina signed agreements with Tanzania Petroleum Development Company for the exploration and production of upstream and downstream oil and gas and with Mozambique’s Buzi Hydrocarbons to assess opportunities in the oil and gas sector, including exploration and gas-to-power potential. As part of a series of visits by Indonesian President Joko Widodo to Africa, the NOC expressed its interest in developing gas pipelines, gas-fired power generation and associated export infrastructure in South Africa, which faces substantial unmet power demand and frequent load shedding. With Malaysia’s Petronas completing its acquisition of a 40% interest in Block 20 in Angola’s Kwanza Basin last September, Asian operators are showing no signs of slowing down their engagement with Africa’s leading energy markets.
Downstream
With surging energy demand of its own, China is also active in the development of Africa’s downstream refining capabilities. Poised to play a pivotal role in the development of the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline – a 1,443km pipeline that will transport oil from landlocked Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania – the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation is collaborating with the Export-Import Bank of China to supply the majority of debt funding for the infrastructure project. Chinese funders are set to supply approximately three billion dollars towards the five-billion-dollar project, with CNOOC holding an eight percent share in the pipeline, alongside integrated oil and gas company, TotalEnergies (62%), the Uganda National Oil Company (15%), and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (15%).
In South Sudan, CNPC holds the largest share in the Dar Petroleum Oil Operating consortium that operates Blocks 3 and 7 in the Paloch oil field in Upper Nile State, with other partners including Petronas and Sinopec. CNPC is also the operator of the 1,980-km cross-border Niger-Benin crude pipeline, which will connect the Agadem Rift Basin region in Niger to Port Seme Terminal in Benin with a capacity to transport 90,000 barrels of crude per day. With these developments and more, Asian operators are making a push to be a part of Africa’s diversified, integrated energy growth that spans the entire oil and gas supply chain.
Invest in African Energy (IAE) 2024 is an exclusive forum designed to foster collaboration between European investors and African energy markets. Taking place May 14-15, 2024 in Paris, the event offers delegates two days of intensive engagement with industry experts, project developers, investors and policymakers. For more information, please visit www.invest-africa-energy.com.
