As a result of the volatility in the global oil market, the 18 member countries of African Petroleum Producers Association are considering strategies to stay afloat.
Over the periods that oil prices have plunged and revenues from sales by producers decreased, the budgets of a number of Africa’s top oil producers like Nigeria have been significantly impaired.
Analysts have however observed that most of these nations have either dropped their expenditure profiles because they would not have sufficient fiscal buffers to cope with the slump in oil prices.
Nonetheless, 18 African oil producing countries under the aegis the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) have from their meeting at the last African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE-VI) in Abuja, agreed to follow through 25 strategic goals they consider good enough to keep them up while the uncertainty in oil prices lasts.
They made these decisions from the 11 sessions of the meeting. The choices they adopted were all extracted from deliberations that assessed the impact of the price volatility vis-à-vis future price predictions; processes needed to enhance attractiveness, good governance and transparency in operating within Africa; partnerships in Africa’s oil and gas sector; funding sources for oil and gas operations and projects; expansion of the business focuses of indigenous African operators, as well as value addition in production through local content laws, amongst others.
According to the communique which contained the 25 goals that these countries have agreed to pursue, APPA members have indicated that in trying to make its hydrocarbon resources work for its people and economy, they would now be focusing their efforts on value addition rather than production volumes as it is often the case.
They also said that in seeking to achieve this, they would task their respective governments to work harder for more investments to flow into the continent’s oil and gas industry especially with the current competitive conditions in the global oil industry, by deliberately setting up conducive climates for investments.
Apart from opening up more favorable conditions for investments, APPA members would also build credible partnerships across board which they said would enable them focus on flexibility rather than contractual commitments in the industry.
They equally want their regulatory frameworks to be fit for purpose, while extant controls and limit to ineffective bureaucratic procedures including permits and consents should be pursued to increase the sanity quotient of the industry in Africa.
