East Africa is now becoming a hotspot for gas exploration, replacing Nigeria with large volumes of oil and gas being discovered in the region majorly in Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Angola.
The Managing Director\Chief Executive, Total Upstream Company in Nigeria, Elisabeth Proust, said that Nigeria is no longer the number one seller and producer of gas as they are currently facing stiff competition across East Africa. This is a good sign for the oil and gas industry and the MD has also encouraged it as they hope to see Africa becoming a target exporter of gas all around the world.
“I believe all stakeholders recognise the urgent need to replace production in Nigeria. The level of drilling activity and the reserve replacement ratio of drilling activity in the country are extremely low right now,” She said. She said a fair and stable and regulatory regime will be necessary if Nigeria gas and oil reserves have to grow and for companies to invest in exploration and development of assets.
She observed that there is need for aggressive exploration activities for current oil and gas reserves to avoid decline of reserves replacement and production. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have launched oil and gas exploration with success being reported. Tanzania has recently been reported to be preparing to reap S$20m premium from its oil and gas industry by putting in place the right policy, while Uganda needed to set pipeline among other things, having concluded the exploration phase.