African Energy Chamber Appoints Local Content Advisory Committee

…Says Committee will Push for a More Inclusive Energy Industry

The African Energy Chamber has appointed its highest-level advisory committee to serve on local content matters and support capacity building across the continent. Local Content Committee members are part of the Chamber’s Advisory Board and serve in their personal capacities, representing decades of experience working for the leading local and international players in Africa.

 They include:

Kola Karim, CEO, Shoreline Energy International

Walter Peviani, Managing Director, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd

Jorg Kohnert, Managing Director, Jagal Energy

Chijioke Akwukwuma, Managing Director/CEO, Ocean Deep Drilling ESV Nigeria Limited (ODENL)

Jude Kearney, President, Kearney Africa

Eric Williams, President, Royal Triangle Energy Solutions

Pablo Memba, CEO, Equatorial Resources

Ogutu Okudo, Country Manager, SpringRock Group

Rémi Mouchel, Operations Director and President of the Executive Board, IFP Training

Local content has always been at the core of the African Energy Chamber’s mandate and priorities. Capacity building and the procurement of local goods and services throughout the African hydrocarbons value chain is a central pillar to building sustainability in the industry, creating jobs and generating local value for African economies.

As African energy markets recover from Covid-19 and the historic crash of oil prices, local content matters will become even more important for governments and operators to support economic recovery and cut costs.

In addition, 2020 has been a turning point for the African regional content, with increasing awareness across the continent on the need to build regional ventures and enterprises able to offer African solutions to African energy problems, from Senegal to Mozambique.

“We cannot continue to blame others for the lack of progress. Local content is changing across the board and adapting to new realities and requirements. In 2020, local content development needs to adapt to new market dynamics and developments in the African workforce.

All stakeholders need to come around key priorities for our industry including the integration of women, the development of new skills, especially as the African energy industry embraces digitization, and finding way to develop a strong African regional content,” declared NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman at the African Energy Chamber.

 The Local Content Committee is the second committee of the African Energy Chamber’s Advisory Board to be announced this week. The Chamber has put together leading industry experts, executives and public representatives to support several initiatives over the course of 2020 and 2021, such as local content development, natural gas and energy transitions, the promotion of an enabling environment and the expansion of exploration activities.

Peace Obi