SOUTH AFRICA : Maximizing Local Content for Sustainable Growth at African Energy Week (AEW) 2024

11 Juillet 2024

LIBREVILLE, Gabon, July 11 (Infosplusgabon) - African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energy 2024 – scheduled for November 4-8 in Cape Town – will seek to advance local content development within the continent’s burgeoning energy sector. The summit will host key panel discussions aimed at fostering sustainable economic growth and maximizing value for African nations through the development and implementation of effective local content policies (LCPs).

As Africa’s energy sector expands, the need for productive LCPs has become critical for local job creation and value retention. At AEW: Invest in African Energy, a panel on Building Value and Promoting Investment through Local Content will explore strategies for empowering African companies, enhancing global competitiveness and establishing local and regional integrated value chains. African and global energy industry stakeholders will discuss integrating LCPs into business models to make the investment case for utilizing local goods and services and hiring, training and promoting the local workforce. Meanwhile, a panel on Pan-African Local Content will focus on the intersection between climate justice, local content, sustainability and digital transformation within a new era of energy sector development.

AEW: Invest in African Energy is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and government, and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy.

Maximizing the socioeconomic benefits of oil and gas activities remains fundamental to the continent’s progress. Following Namibia’s series of commercial oil and gas discoveries, the government is working on embedding favorable local content policies into its national development plan, learning from the experiences of established producers to ensure that the sector’s benefits are extended to local communities. To this end, Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has published a draft National Upstream Local Content Policy and hopes to have the policy completed and ready to present to the legislature by February 2025.

Mature petroleum producers like Nigeria have seen an increase in local participation within the oil and gas industry on the back of functional local content initiatives. The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act mandates the prioritization of Nigerian products, services and employment. Central to this effort is the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), which oversees the Act and fosters partnerships with industry and educational institutions, aiming to achieve a 70% local content target by 2027.

Senegal has also enacted reforms to prioritize local participation ahead of first oil production – which was achieved earlier this year – including a dedicated Local Content Development Fund and National Local Content Monitoring Committee (CNSCL). The CNSCL’s recent collaboration with Nigeria’s NCDMB aims to strengthen industry cooperation and capacity building across both countries, with a view to achieving 50% local content in Senegal by 2030.

In Angola, local content is centered around the country’s Angolanization policy, which prioritizes the hiring and training of Angolan nationals and was amended in October 2020 to expand the requirements for the provision of local goods and services. The updated framework promotes fair competition among Angolan service companies and reduces the dominance of international players across various sectors, and is not exclusive to the upstream oil and gas industry.

Ghana’s energy sector is also benefiting from robust local content initiatives driven by the country’s Petroleum Commission. Key measures include the Local Content and Local Participation Regulations, which mandate a minimum 10% equity for Ghanaian companies in all projects and establish employment targets for nationals. The Local Content Fund provides crucial financial support to enhance the competitiveness of local firms, while the Enterprise Development Center offers essential training, advisory services and market linkages to Ghanaian SMEs in the sector.

Against this backdrop, AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 will serve as a critical platform for refining local content strategies and ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth across Africa’s energy landscape. The outcomes from this event will shape the future of local content development and the trajectory of economic empowerment for African nations. (SOURCE : African Energy Chamber).

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