Hope for Nigeria as Africa awaits 428 new oil, gas projects

Over 428 oil and gas projects are expected to be developed in Africa’s oil and gas sector before 2025, a new report said yesterday. 

Nigeria, regarded as one of the biggest crude oil producers on the continent according to the report, conducted by a leading research body, GlobaData, is to receive over 23 per cent of the total projects to start operations from 2021 to 2025.
   
 The report titled ‘Africa Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 – Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All New Build and Expansion Projects’ showed that Africa 428 oil and gas projects would commence operations in the period.

 The outlook of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector had remained elusive due to a poor fiscal and regulatory framework. The country has been unable to pass relevant legislations to bolster confidence and reduce uncertainty.
     
 The report noted that refinery and petrochemical segments would witness the start of operations of 65 and 105 projects respectively.
 Refinery and petrochemical projects together constitute about 55 per cent of upcoming oil and gas projects during 2021–2025, Offshore-technology reported, adding that the midstream sector follows next, with the pipeline segment accounting for 33 per cent of projects. This is followed by oil storage and gas processing with 30 and 23 per cent respectively.
    
 The report further highlighted that new projects lead the upcoming project’s landscape in Africa standing at around 79 per cent of the total projects across the value chain. 
    
 According to the report, about 40 per cent of the projects are in the construction and commissioning stages and are more likely to commence operations during the outlook period. 

It noted that about 40 per cent of the projects are in the planning stages while the rest have been approved or awaiting approvals.