‘SSAOGES 2018 will shape Africa’s energy culture’

The Sub-Sahara Africa Oil, Gas and Energy Infrastructure Summit, which will bring together African nations situated south of the Sahara Desert with mainly rich endowments of oil and gas resources, will shape the Continent’s energy culture and produce new narrations about the region energy-wise.

The Co-convener, SSAOGES, Oladeji Olawale, said this while addressing journalists on the summit slated for Nairobi, Kenya next month.

Olawale said the Continent holds almost eight per cent of proven world oil and gas reserves, with more new discoveries being made in nations in the sub-Saharan region.

He said many sub-Saharan African economies were highly dependent on the exploitation of the minerals for their development, adding that participation of the region in the global oil/gas industry was limited to providing raw materials, while the infrastructural gap between that of the region and the rest of the developed world was constantly widening.

According to him, the current stance informed the idea of the summit, which will hold from October 10 to 12.

He said: “The summit is organised around presentations, panel sessions and breakaway sessions, evaluating identified themes bordering on oil and gas and energy infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The sessions will focus majorly on knowledge, policy, marketing strategies in relation to mthe emerging gas markets in sub-Saharan Africa, not forgetting the opportunities relating to oil.”