Africa Oil & Power (AOP), Africa’s elite energy event, kicked-off its second annual conference on Monday with a keynote speech from H.E. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, Minister of Petroleum of South Sudan. The minister urged delegates to look within Africa for solutions to today’s energy challenges and outlined the huge potential of oil and gas to bring prosperity to South Sudan and the continent.
CEO of Centurion Law Group NJ Ayuk also delivered a keynote speech where he urged governments and companies to continue investing and looking for opportunities, despite the current downturn in the oil and gas prices. “I believe in Africa and its power to transform this continent,” Ayuk said to the audience.
The AOP 2017 conference, which attracted 400 delegates and 70 speakers, will run through Wednesday June 7, 2017. In the midst of the “lower for longer” oil price environment, speakers on 12 panel sessions examine the theme of the conference, “catalysts for change” – the sparks that could ignite a recovery and the strategies that companies and governments can employ to operate at a sustained low price point. CEO of Africa Branding Corporation Guillaume Doane encouraged delegates to consider the potential catalysts for change in Africa’s oil and gas industry, and to think critically about the best way forward for the development of the sector.
The three-day event will see a powerful program of keynotes, strategic briefings, moderated discussions and market spotlights, as well as important announcements from government officials. On Monday afternoon, H.E. Gabriel M. Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea makes public the results of the EG Ronda 2016 licensing round, which concludes at AOP 2017.
On the first day of the conference, panel discussions focus on a wide variety of topics, such as the role of gas in economic development; the outlook for frontier exploration in 2017 and beyond; and the market forces that are shaping a new energy paradigm in Southern Africa. Monday will wrap with a gala dinner and awards ceremony, celebrating the achievements of some of Africa’s most notable longtime industry leaders.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, policy experts and entrepreneurs address a range of vital issues impacting Africa’s oil and gas industry in dedicated panels, including oil and gas trading, power projects, power policy and investment, policy and law, upstream development and production, finance and investment and private equity, as well as market spotlight sessions on investing in South Sudan and Nigeria.
