Africa Energy Outlook 2020

The global energy industry is going through an important period of transition. We are witnessing a necessary, gradual shift toward sustainable energy resources. The United States is exporting its shale revolution. Trade patterns between the lynchpins of the global economy – in the U.S., Europe and China – are shifting as businesses adapt to ongoing trade disputes. And, here in Africa, a growing imperative to ensure that natural resources deliver economic uplift for host countries and local communities. These factors present challenges and significant opportunities for our industry. History teaches us a lot about transition. In the case of the energy industry, Africa’s history dates back to Colonial times, where a nascent coal industry powered the transport of mineral resources, via rail, from the interior to the Atlantic and on to global markets. Oil exploration came to Africa not long after the first modern oil wells were drilled in the U.S. But a century of exploration and production has not come close to exhausting the potential of this last remaining hydrocarbons frontier. The opportunity is vast: Africa possesses 7.5 percent and 7.1 percent of global oil and gas reserves, respectively, and upstream investment is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 18 percent between 2018 and 2030, well above PWC’s global medium-term forecast of 6 percent. Today we see new markets emerging and growing