Oil and Gas Africa highlights business opportunities in the region

INTEREST in offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration in South Africa is set to increase dramatically over the next five years as extraction technology improves, and the need for an alternative source to the unstable Middle East region increases, says John Victor of conference organiser Fair Consultants.

"South Africa's offshore areas have potential resources of many billions of barrels of oil and tens of trillion cubic feet of gas," confirms Dave van der Spuy, Resource Development Manager at the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA). "We have seen a growing interest in exploration all along South Africa's coastline, from west to east, and in the south, as well as the shale gas opportunities in the Karoo area. There is a vibrant upstream industry in South Africa, with more than nine seismic acquisition programmes over the last few years; companies have spent billions of Rands in exploration," adds van der Spuy.

Paul Runge, Managing Director of Africa Project Access, said, "Over the past few years, the main focus in Mozambique has been the coal-rich Zambezi Valley. Now the discovery of abundant natural gas off the far north coast of the country has shifted attention. Pemba is already seeing exponential growth and Palma, further north, will soon become a major area of activity."