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| Steve Harley, President, DHL Energy sector |
This is according
to Steve Harley, President, DHL Energy
Sector, who says that while Angola and Nigeria
have always been the most notable producers within the Sub-Saharan region, more
recently, significant gas discoveries in Tanzania and Mozambique, has led to
East Africa now receiving its share of attention from global oil companies and potential
investors.
“Oil discoveries
in Uganda and Kenya have also added to the excitement in the sector as new
players look to enter these markets, including some of the largest independent
and international oil companies, otherwise known as the super majors, who are
now also witnessing the potential in this region.”
He says that in
addition to the developments in East Africa, both Namibia and South Africa are
also on the radar of investors within the sector. “South Africa in particular
is receiving much attention, mostly because of the potential of shale gas in
the Karoo, but also because it has a long and largely unexplored coastline, off
which many believe large hydrocarbon fields may exist. As a result of the
region’s potential, there are several offshore drilling exploration expeditions
currently being planned in South Africa by the major oil companies.”
“While exploration activity in Africa is at its highest level ever, the
continent remains largely unexplored”, says Harley. PwC’s Africa Oil & Gas
review titled From promise to performance
released in June 2013, revealed that Africa currently supplies
approximately
12% of the world’s
oil and boasts untapped reserves estimated at 8% of the world’s proven
reserves.
“With the
ever-increasing need for energy in Asia and in particular China, many of these
countries are positioning themselves strategically in Africa as they seek to
tap into new resources to support their growing energy needs.”
“Despite the
significant developments in the renewable energy sector, the world’s dependency
on hydrocarbon-fuelled energy resources will continue for many years to come. According
to the BP Energy Outlook 2035 report,
global energy consumption is expected to rise by 41% from 2012 to 2035, and
that 95% of that growth in demand is expected to come from the emerging
economies.”
“Across the globe,
existing and previously significant oil reserves are being depleted and so the
need and desire to explore new geographies and develop new technologies to
reach and extract difficult oil and gas reserves becomes ever more apparent.
These new technologies are being developed at a rapid rate, which is allowing
previously challenging operations and inaccessible deposits to be economically
extracted and produced.”
He adds that DHL
is also beginning to witness many exploration companies, as well as the
oilfield service companies, outsource non-core functions within their own
supply chains. “This is creating opportunities for small and medium enterprises
to provide products and services required to support oil and gas operations
locally. The knock-on effect can therefore be game-changing for any single
country or region in terms of economic development. The importance of this
outsourcing and localisation trend therefore cannot be underestimated,” says Harley.
The company is
also witnessing stronger relationships and increased levels of collaboration
between African countries as they seek to share risk and jointly benefit from a
united approach and vision. This is particularly evident in East Africa in
countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan. A recent example of
collaboration in Mozambique is the expansion of oil and gas company Sonangol,
from Angola.
Harley says that there is no sign of the activity within the sector slowing
down. “The increased activity within the sector bodes well for the continent in
general, and the fact that the company is already seeing positive economic
effects of the new investments across the continent is extremely encouraging.”
“At
DHL, we work closely with our customers to optimize their complex supply chains
and manage logistics costs better, so that companies can focus on their core
activities. And, our team applies the same exacting HSSE and compliance
standards as the industry itself. We have been operating in Africa since 1978
and our unrivalled footprint is only rivaled by the size of our air network –
we are the only logistics company to operate our own aircraft in Africa which
currently consists of 14 dedicated aircraft, servicing all corners of the
continent. When it comes to the oil and gas sector, it rings true, that Nobody
Knows Africa like we do,” concludes Harley.
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