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THE hydrocarbon potentials in the black race of African continent is on the top gear, going by the recent developments in some of the black nations, which are now ramping up various deals, as oil firms scramble to get a slice of what could be an energy goldmine.
Raging from the Northern to Western, Southern and recently Eastern Africa, the countries are gradually securing a place for themselves in the league of oil producing countries and indeed the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting and Countries (OPEC) which Nigeria, Algeria, Libya and Angola are presently members.
As the growth oil indicators emerged, concerns have continued to mount over the lagging state of progress in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, which has suffered significant investment for over five years, due to uncertainties in the legislative framework.
Besides, the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), high rate of corruption recent sited in the petroleum sector and poor technology have been identified as critical factors hindering the growth of Nigerian oil and gas sector.
Petroleum experts, who spoke to The Guardian recently, were obviously worried about the dwindling trend of investment in the industry, raised concern about the untapped oil potentials across the African continent.
Among them is an Energy guru, Ebi Omatshola, who traced the history of the continent in the midst of abundant resources, said the continent, particularly Nigeria has failed to fully explore the hydrocarbon potentials inherent within its territory.
According to him, countries across Africa such as Ghana, Kenya, Chad, Sudan among others, have numerous basins with huge volumes of oil and gas resources lying untapped.

Reviewing the global reserve base, he said Africa has a record of declining reserve, which moved from 7.8 per cent in 2001 to 7.0 per cent in 2011. He, however, noted that searching for oil is improving in other African countries, while Nigerian seems static.
According to Casey Research, Northern Africa has the highest oil production in the continent, followed by Western and Southern Africa. East Africa was rated as lowest in the ranking.
The latest OPEC forecast said growth is expected from all major producers in the region. Expected growth for the year is 55 per cent lower than the average supply growth seen in the last five years.
Sudan’s oil supply saw a downward revision of 30,000bpd, while Ghana’s oil supply encountered a downward reuision, due to technical difficulties that are delaying peak production at the Jubilee oil project to 2013.
On the other hand, Cameroon’s oil supply is expected to increase by around 30,000bpd supported by developments, such as the Dissoni project. On quarterly basis, Africa’s oil supply this year is seen averaging 2.53mbpd, 2.57mbpd, 2.57mbpd and 2.56mbpd respectively.
However, East Africa has been largely ignored since early drills, almost 50 years ago, came up dry. But then Irish oil giant Tullow discovered over two million barrels under the waters of Lake Albert, Uganda, in 2009, and the region suddenly shot into the limelight.
A report by Platts, an international online energy analyst, identified some East African nations that are on the verge of transforming their economy through versed oil exploration and production, which is presently proving to positive development.
Significant gas reserves have been found in Mozambique and Tanzania, where Liquefied Natural Gas facilities are now been planned. Drilling is expected to commence in Ethiopia later this year, while Madagascar is believed to hold significant reserves of gas and the Puntland region of Somalia is also showing positive signs.
In Kenya, Tullow discovered oil in March and said last week that prospects in the Turkana region have exceeded expectations with net oil pay found in the Ngamia-1 exploration well being more than double that of any exploration wells drilled to date in East Africa.
Kenya’s first oil discovery has seen a surge of interest in new oil exploration licenses, and has boosted the country’s oil reserves estimate by one third to around four billion barrels, the largest in East Africa.
Italy’s Eni is among the latest companies to enter Kenya, having picked up three blocks, marking its first foray into the East African country while Total has finalised an agreement for block L22 in the Lamu Basin.
Oil production would boost economic growth directly as well as provide increased revenues to help strengthen Kenya’s future economic potential. It would also help the country reduce its oil import bill.
Nairobi spent $4.1 billion on oil imports in 2011, around 11 per cent of GDP and four times more than it received for its tea exports, Kenya’s largest export earner, according to a recent report by Moody’s ratings agency.
Successful oil discoveries in Kenya should bode well for landlocked Ethiopia, given their geological similarities.
Local company SouthWest Energy is on track to drill a well in the first quarter of 2013 in the Ogaden Basin, which it believes contains an estimated 1.5 billion to six billion barrels of oil.
It is currently in discussions with a number of companies for a possible partnership in the country where it owns a 100 per cent interest in 46,000 sq km of highly prospective frontier acreage.
“We have had strong interest from a number of potential partners. Discussions are progressing well,” company founder and chairman Tewodros Ashenafi said recently.
SouthWest also owns the Gambella Basin block in the south west of Ethiopia and the Jimma block in the south, which has been shown to have great potential for the development of oil shale deposits, the company says.
Vancouver-based Africa Oil, with partner Tullow, plans to drill one well in the South Omo blocks in Ethiopia before the end of 2012. It is also moving ahead with work on the El Kuran oil accumulation in block 8 in the Ogaden Basin, discovered in the early 1970s.
After decades of war, Somalia has been undergoing a peace and reconciliation process of late, with the internationally recognized transitional government preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections in August.
A solution to a territorial dispute between the Somaliland region, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, and its neighboring semi-autonomous Puntland region, could pave the way for resumption of oil exploration activities.
Oil companies that were awarded concessions by the last government of Somalia, including Shell, ConocoPhillips, BP, Eni and Chevron, ceased their operations a decade ago after declaring force majeure due to unrest in the country.
Meanwhile, Mogadishu says it still recognises permits awarded prior 1991, it is not clear if concessions acquired post-1991 are considered valid, which include licenses granted to companies such as Africa Oil, Petrosoma and Jacka Resources

Source: The Guardian