The roundtable covered contemporary topics for the hydrocarbons industry in Angola, including themes of collaboration for the improvement in competitiveness in Angola, both in existing and future operations, and how harmonisation of technical solutions can also play a part in improving the competitive landscape. The panel also discussed the factors enabling greater competitiveness and what obstacles remain, as well as analysing sectors that offer the greatest potential for new projects in the country.
On the occasion, The Oil & Gas Year officially launched its digital business intelligence platform TOGYiN for the Angolan market. TOGYiN is a one-stop shop business intelligence platform, providing energy executives with GIS maps, networking opportunities and detailed information from more than 25 markets, 2,000 people, 1,500 companies and many projects.
The event was attended by Angola’s most important players, including Edson dos Santos and Jorge de Abreu, executive directors at Sonangol; Ricardo Van-Deste, board member at Sonangol P&P; Darryl Willis, regional president at BP; John Baltz, managing director at CABGOC; Pedro Ribeiro, deputy general manager at Total; and Antony Peters, business services manager and treasurer at Esso Angola. Also present were Dominigos Freitas, country director at Weatherford; Patricia Lopes, country manager at Heerema Marine Contractors; Pedro Godinho, executive director at the US-Angola Chamber of Commerce; and Arnaldo Lago de Carvalho, a board member from Nalco.
Speaking about the future scenarios of the Angolan landscape, De Abreu told the panellists and guests that Sonangol is “attentive to what is going on the industry, and we are setting a few initiatives that will be, in our opinion, good for the oil industry operators and service providers.” Van Deste added that most operators in Angola have made a huge effort to improve collaboration, citing the Association of Service Providers of the Angolan Oil & Gas Industry (AECIPA) as a prime example of this.
The Oil & Gas Year is the flagship title of The Oil & Gas Year Limited, a publisher of annual business intelligence reports on more than 35 markets worldwide that are critical business tools for energy investors, highlighting and promoting key actors, projects and opportunities.

The event focused on the strategic importance of the year 2016 for India’s oil and gas industry, in light of the new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motion to make India more energy efficient by 2022 and the new carbon pathway in line with COP 21 engagements.

The event also covered new local areas of investment, particularly in deepwater and ultra-deepwater areas of India’s offshore sector, and a broader look into the expectation of international investment in various sectors and industries in the country.

The event was strictly by invitation only convened 15-20 high-level executives at the Imperial Hotel in New Delhi. It also showcased the unveiling of the new TOGYin online platform.

Recommendations from the discussion will be transcribed and featured in the TOGY India report, published in Q4 2016. Video coverage will be streamlined on the TOGYin online platform.

Panellists discussed the challenges and opportunities related to the continued development of the gas to power value chain. With representatives from gas producers, power generation companies, power distribution companies, and the country’s national oil company, the event served as a unique platform for industry leaders to engage in dissecting infrastructural, funding, and policy issues and the way forward on one of the most relevant topics to Nigeria: power.

Country director for The Oil & Gas Year Nigeria 2016 Brindusa Negrea opened the event discussing the significance of the gathering, “Power is the heart and lifeblood of any economy. With the low oil price, we are here to discuss how we here in Nigeria can fuel change and bring uninterrupted power to Nigerians.”

The importance of the economic implications was emphasised by Dr. Lazarus Angbazo of GE Nigeria, “Our power problem in Nigeria is growing exponentially. We are hurting the Nigerian economy and will fall behind in our attempts to become a top 20 economy.”

Many solutions were proffered by the panellists on the issue. David Ige of GasInvest reckoned it is imperative to “focus on the projects we already have in the works, reach the pockets of stranded gas in country, and create liquidity in the market to bring in investment.”

Oando chief strategy officer Ayo Ajose-Adeogun mentioned the need for a top-down approach. “The CBN, financial institutions, the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources need to put together targeted fiscal and regulatory incentives for potential investors.”

The roundtable will be printed in The Oil & Gas Year Nigeria 2016 edition as well as posted on The Oil and Gas Year’s YouTube channel and will feature the comments and views shared by the participants throughout the event.

The event was held in partnership with the federal government of Nigeria, the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board and indigenous upstream operator Oando, and was sponsored by Amni International and Weatherford Nigeria.

The event brought together Lourdes Melgar, Undersecretary of Hydrocarbons of the Secretariat of Energy; Ernesto Ríos Patrón, general director for the Mexican Petroleum Institute; Salvador Ayala, vice-president of marketing, sales and technology at Schlumberger; Salvador Ugalde, head of the hydrocarbons income unit at Mexico’s Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit; José Manuel Carrera Panizzo, chief alliance and new business officer at Pemex; Andres Brügmann, country manager of Fieldwood Energy; Luis Vázquez Senties, president of Grupo Diavaz and Alfredo Alvarez, energy segment leader for Mexico and Central America at EY, to engage in an open and constructive dialogue about the current opportunities that exist in Mexico after the first oil and gas bidding round. Iván Sandrea, CEO of Sierra Oil & Gas, moderated the panel discussion.

The roundtable, titled “The route to re-invention – Lessons learned through the historic oil and gas bidding rounds in Mexico,” covered a number of themes, including the level of risk faced by the first participants in the Mexico’s energy industry, the role of IOCs and local companies as leaders in the opening of the industry, the importance of natural gas after the liberalisation of Mexico’s energy market in a scenario of low prices, the new transparency and safety measures to minimise environmental and operational risks in offshore and onshore plays and the country’s capacity to attract investments for the industry.

Industry professionals gathered at the event to celebrate the inauguration of the latest report from The Oil & Gas Year on the Abu Dhabi market. At the event, the UAE Undersecretary of Minister of Energy H.E. Dr. Matar Hamed Al Neyadi delivered a keynote address. The speech was followed by the year’s awards ceremony, which recognised the achievements and leadership demonstrated by Abu Dhabi’s finest institutions over the past twelve months.

ADNOC and Total were presented with the Partnership of the Year award for their joint project with the Masdar Institute and the Petroleum Institute for the consortium’s work on the Digital Rock Physics Project. Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company, more commonly known as Takreer, received the award for carbon offsetting efforts for their work with Spanish engineering company Intecsa Industrial. For the successful commissioning of the Shah Gas Development Project at the end of 2015, Al Hosn Gas, a joint venture composed of ADNOC and Occidental Petroleum, received the Project Execution of the Year award. The National Drilling Company of Abu Dhabi took home the Best Technology Adoption of the Year award for their innovative island rigs. Finally, for their work in adapting proven technology to work in Abu Dhabi’s sour gas fields, Schlumberger received the Best Oilfield Services Company award.

The Oil & Gas Year Abu Dhabi 2016 explores the emirates’ progress in digital technology at the oilfield and competency building within the nation’s younger generation of industry professionals. The publication includes an updated map of Abu Dhabi’s onshore and offshore hydrocarbons concessions as well as a special chapter dedicated to the UAE’s Ministry of Energy’s landmark decision to remove transport fuel subsidies, implemented in the second half of 2015.

In the publication UAE Minister of Energy H.E. Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei was quoted as saying, “The development of existing fields requires a lot of capital expenditure and use of the latest technologies. All these elements are available in Abu Dhabi and I think we will be able to reach our goals. Our main strength is our portfolio of oil and gas assets and our proven reserves, as well as the quality of our reservoirs.”

The event was sponsored by Ali & Sons Oilfields Supplies & Services, Dubai Cable Company (Ducab), Huawei Technologies, Kaspersky, Occidental Petroleum, Schlumberger, Siemens, Weatherford International and Wood Group PSN.

The Oil & Gas Year is a series of executive reports produced on more than 30 countries. The publication’s global circulation is audited by BPA Worldwide and has an international readership of 69,000 readers in 101 countries.

For more news and features on the oil and gas industry in Abu Dhabi, click here.

The Oil & Gas Year Angola 2016 report was launched at the EPIC SANA Hotel in the Angolan capital of Luanda. The event was attended by Secretary of State for Oil Mr. Aníbal Silva and was exclusively sponsored by leading inspection and verification company SGS Angola.

The third edition of The Oil & Gas Year Angola brings focus to such key topics as the new foreign exchange regime applied to the oil sector, strategies to increasing production capacity, stimulating infrastructure development and driving sustainable growth, given the economic challenges that face the global energy sector. The book also dedicates a special chapter to the critical role enhanced local content regulations are likely to play in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector in the short and medium term.

At the ceremony, the team of The Oil & Gas Year distributed six awards honouring individuals, companies and projects for their exceptional contributions to the market over the past year. President of AECIPA Braulio De Brito was selected as the Person of the Year for his outstanding commitment to harnessing changes and improving regulations of the Angolan energy business environment. The Development of the Year award was presented to the new deep-water port under construction in Caio that represents a major logistic breakthrough for the country’s future oil and gas sector. For its $100 million investment in a new state-of-the-art facility in the northern region of Cabinda, Halliburton received the Investment of the Year award. Grupo Simples Oil was presented the award for Local Company of the Year, while Pumangol Industrial received the Downstream Project of the Year recognition for the company’s brand new conventional buoy system located next to the Fishing Port of Luanda. Lastly, the Local Content Performer of the Year award was distributed to the Angolan arm of leading global oilfield chemicals company Nalco.

The discussion came at a time when Congo is passing key milestones, which include the launch of its first major bid round in 10 years, the first revision of a key hydrocarbons code in more than 15 years, and the start-up of the first phase of Total’s 140,000-barrel-per-day Moho Nord project. During the high-level debate, participants shared perspectives on the impact of low oil prices, their suggestions and frustrations for the long-awaited hydrocarbons code, and the unfortunate neglect of one Congo’s key resources: natural gas.

Energy report The Oil & Gas Year Nigeria 2015 was launched at Eko Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria on August 4, 2015.

The Oil & Gas Year Nigeria 2015 places special focus on the rise of indigenous integrated companies and the impact of the Local Content Act on the on the country’s oil and gas industry.

The book also emphasises the issues faced by Nigeria in a period of low oil prices, and as the country is expected to reform its public oil company and rethink its fiscal and legislative framework following the successful change of presidential administration in March 2015.

The Oil & Gas Year is published by Wildcat International, with its fourth edition in Nigeria produced in collaboration with the Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, and Oando Group.

At the ceremony, The Oil & Gas Year team distributed six awards. President Muhammadu Buhari was selected as the Person of the Year for his plans to revamp Nigeria’s hydrocarbons industry by implementing structural reforms in the country’s institutions and fiscal regimes.

The Engineering Project of the Year was presented to a consortium led by the National Engineering and Technical Company, which also includes DeltaAfrik Engineering and International Energy Services. The group will be responsible for the design and engineering of the topside process modules for the Egina project’s floating production, storage and offloading facility.

Nigerian integrated company Aiteo Group was given the Deal of the Year award for its acquisition of Shell, Total and Eni’s 45-percent stake in oil mining licence 29 and the 100-kilometre Nembe Creek Trunk Line pipeline for an estimated $2.5 billion.

The Upstream Company of the Year was given to marginal field producer Midwestern Oil & Gas for completing the construction of the 51-kilometre Umugini pipeline.

For achieving a turnover of more than $700 million in 2014 and contributing to the country’s Gas Master Plan in 2014 through its projects, Nigerian engineering services company Makon Group was presented the Local Content Performer of the Year award.

The award for Financial Institution of the Year was given to the Nigeria Stock Exchange for its role in supporting the $500-million initial public offering of Nigerian independent hydrocarbons company Seplat Petroleum in April 2014, the first-ever dual listing to take place between the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges.

The Oil & Gas Year is the flagship title of Wildcat International, a publisher of business intelligence resources. The Oil & Gas Year produces yearly annual executive books and events on more than 33 petroleum provinces that are critical business tools for energy investors, highlighting and promoting key actors and opportunities. Global circulation to a readership of 69,000 readers in 101 countries is audited by BPA Worldwide.