African Energy Week

The 2023 edition of African Energy Week will feature a strong technical focus, with a parallel program dedicated to exploring the challenges, solutions, and success stories across Africa’s E&P landscape

Representing the biggest gathering of energy stakeholders on the continent, the African Energy Week (AEW) conference and exhibition takes place under a mandate of making energy poverty history, with the event largely centered on the role oil and gas will play in meeting this objective. This year, the conference is proud to offer a technical program, taking place across three days in parallel to the conference itself.

The AEW 2023 technical program provides a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and improved dialogue via a series of presentations, case studies, and high-level panel discussions. Industry experts, high-level E&P players, and movers and shakers from across the African energy landscape will be presenting their technical papers during the three-day program, providing insight into recent exploration activities and kicking off discussions and deals.

The technical component of the conference could not come at a better time for the continent. In 2023, Africa’s E&P landscape is witnessing unprecedented growth owing to growing regional demand, recent large-scale discoveries, and calls by African stakeholders to advance hydrocarbon monetization. While major oil-producing countries such as Angola and Nigeria look towards expanding production on the back of new exploration campaigns, nascent markets such as Namibia and Uganda have put forward ambitious upstream agendas which aim to position the countries as both producers and exporters.

In this scenario, the AEW 2023 Technical Program will provide key insight into the various exploration campaigns taking place across the continent, with a focus placed on the top upstream markets to watch in 2023 and beyond. On the onshore front, the continent has already become a hive for drilling campaigns, with the African Energy Chamber’s (AEC) 2023 outlook, The State of African Energy, identifying markets such as Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe as leaders of onshore E&P activity in 2023.

Presenters will provide insight into Uganda’s Kingfisher Conventional Oil and Tilenga Developments; Kenya’s onshore exploration developments in the Lamu and South Lokichar basins; and Zimbabwe’s multi-well drilling campaign in the Muzarabani prospect among other high-profile onshore campaigns. Through the presentation of technical papers, AEW 2023 will explore the attractiveness of onshore compared to offshore; creating long-term value within the exploration crusade; as well as future campaigns and results.

Meanwhile, with up to 60% of sub-Saharan Africa’s recoverable reserves lying in deepwater regions, a strong slate of offshore exploration campaigns is currently underway across the continent. Presenting their own challenges to development, deepwater upstream projects have emerged as highly lucrative as well as difficult to navigate. As such, the technical program serves as the only platform dedicated to identifying these challenges, with presenters offering critical solutions and best practices.

Projects such as the Wolf Prospect in South Africa; the Osprey and Welwitschia Deep campaigns in Namibia; and the Formosa and Atum/Anchova campaigns in Guinea-Bissau will be showcased. Key topics set to be presented during the AEW 2023 technical program include the monitoring of wells; market outlooks including Namibia, Angola, Congo and the Gambia; extension trends; and ensuring the successful drilling of high-impact wells.

However, the AEW 2023 technical program goes one step further to explore the entire energy value chain. In addition to Africa’s E&P landscape, the program will see high-level presentations covering the continent’s refining industry; natural gas market – including Liquefied Natural Gas solutions and the energy transition -; cyber security and technology adoption; as well as licensing rounds and regulatory incentives.

Presenters will explore how countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Algeria are taking strides towards net zero, while dedicated papers on the energy transition will investigate success stories in Africa and technologies such as the homer pro software can be applied across the continent.

As the continent pursues the accelerated expansion of its entire energy sector, the AEW 2023 Technical Program will be key for advancing knowledge-sharing, strengthening engagement, and driving project success on the back of collaboration.

“The AEC is proud to announce the launch of the AEW 2023 Technical Program, driven by high-level executives and industry experts from across both the regional and global energy landscape. What Africa needs to make energy poverty history by 2030 is for more wells to be drilled, downstream facilities constructed, and new supplies brought on the market.

Earlier this year we issued a call for technical papers, allowing stakeholders to submit their findings, projects, and solutions to expanding African E&P. These papers will be presented during the AEW 2023 Technical Program, thereby advancing knowledge-sharing and engagement across this increasingly important segment of the energy sector,” stated NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of the African Energy Chamber.