Ghana is set to host the Africa Oil Week (AOW) from September 15 to 18, 2025.
The gathering of oil and gas professionals, investors, policymakers, and industry stakeholders will bring together key voices in the sector to discuss the future of energy in Africa.
The event will also seek to drive investment, accelerate capital flows across the African energy sector and secure it role as a key player in the global energy mix.
Founder of the Africa Prosperity Network Gabby Otchere-Darko speaking at the AOW launch in Accra on Wednesday indicated that the event presents a significant economic opportunity for Ghana.
He emphasised the importance of using the event to drive stronger integration across the continent’s oil and gas industries.
“We should use the opportunity deliberately to see how we can integrate the oil and gas sector on the continent. In terms of the value chain, I think that should be one of the focuses of Africa Oil Week once it comes to Ghana which holds the Africa Continental Free Trade Area secretariat.
“I say so because earlier this year, I think it was in January the president commissioned the Sentuo Oil Refinery, it has a capacity of about 40,000 barrels per day and if parliament will allow and pass the tax exemption that we are seeking the second phase which supposed to come on board next year will take it further to 100,000 barrels a day,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Egbert Faibille Jnr., on his part hinted at plans by the Commission together with other stakeholders to reform the legal framework in the upstream sector to strengthen Ghana’s competitiveness.
“The Petroleum Commission, GNPC and Ministry of Energy have been very hard at work trying to come up with various permutations to engender and promote reforms in our legislative or regulatory or fiscal framework to ensure that we become competitive as our neighbours.”
Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy, Herbert Krapa, stressed that Africa is committed to balancing oil exploration with the global shift toward clean energy, highlighting initiatives like the establishment of the Africa Energy Bank.
“You can’t imagine our economies today without gas. If you think about gas-to-power projects on the African continent…if you think about crude oil production and its impact on our economies, you can’t imagine that we follow sheepishly any conversation about jettisoning hydrocarbon production and following the bandwagon chorus just for the sake of it.
“…That’s why the ministers on the continent have moved to set up the Africa Energy bank and with that, they are able to consolidate investment into hydro-carbon production…oil and gas production on the continent. We are clear as a continent, as ministers, and as leaders in the space that with our hydrocarbon resources, we would be able to utilise them. We would continue to explore and produce. We would continue to invest in that sector.”
Paul Sinclair, CEO of Sankofa Events and Africa Oil Week, emphasised the significance of the event, which will be hosted in Ghana for the first time as it is being moved from Cape Town (South Africa) to Accra.
“The idea of Africa Oil Week is to advocate the development of energy for the continent to ensure that we bring in energy security to the continent.”
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By: Daniel Sackitey
