From National Champions to Continental Partners
Africa possesses considerable energy resources, experienced national oil companies and highly qualified professionals. Yet its energy sector remains marked by fragmentation, limited regional trade and insufficient cooperation among national stakeholders.
Our national oil companies hold a substantial share of the assets, expertise and experience required to develop the sector. They play a central role in exploration, production, transportation, refining, marketing and energy distribution.
However, the challenges facing Africa now extend beyond national borders.
Energy security, infrastructure financing, the energy transition, training, technology, refining and market access have become continental priorities.
This is why our national oil companies must take a further step forward: they must remain national in their mandate, but become African in their ambition.
Moving Beyond Isolation
For too long, African national oil companies have operated primarily within their respective national boundaries.
This approach reflected national priorities and specific institutional environments. However, it has now reached its limits.
No country can, on its own, meet all the requirements related to energy, industrialisation and financing.
One country may possess gas resources but lack sufficient markets. Another may have a large market but insufficient production. A third may have refining capacity, while a fourth possesses transportation or storage infrastructure.
Cooperation enables us to connect these complementarities.
It can transform:
- isolated resources into regional value chains;
- fragmented markets into integrated commercial spaces;
- national projects into continental infrastructure;
- and individual companies into consortia capable of mobilising significant capital.
The question is therefore no longer whether national oil companies should cooperate, but how this cooperation can be organised to produce concrete results.
The Digital CEO Platform: Connecting Leaders to Accelerate Action
It is in this spirit that APPO has established a digital platform dedicated to the leaders of African national oil companies.
This platform is intended to serve as a permanent tool for dialogue, coordination and cooperation among African NOC CEOs.
It should enable them to:
- share strategic information rapidly;
- identify complementarities among companies;
- circulate partnership opportunities;
- exchange best practices;
- share expertise and capabilities;
- identify projects that could be developed jointly;
- and maintain regular dialogue among leaders beyond physical meetings.
In an energy environment characterised by rapid decision-making, changing markets and intense competition for capital, cooperation can no longer be occasional.
It must be continuous, structured and results-oriented.
The digital CEO platform should therefore become a genuine instrument for moving from dialogue to action: an institutional infrastructure serving joint projects, the circulation of expertise and the mobilisation of investment.
It must not be merely a space for exchanging views. It should help create an African community of energy leaders capable of working together on shared priorities.
Harmonising Rules to Facilitate Partnerships
Cooperation among national oil companies cannot be fully effective without a more coherent regulatory environment.
Differences in petroleum codes, licensing procedures, fiscal rules, technical standards and local-content requirements can slow investment and make cross-border projects more complex.
This is why APPO is also working on the harmonisation of petroleum codes and regulatory frameworks across Africa.
This initiative does not seek to impose a single model on all Member States. It respects each country’s sovereignty and its right to define its own fiscal, economic and energy priorities.
The objective is rather to establish a common foundation of principles, procedures and standards that can provide:
- greater predictability for investors;
- shorter administrative timelines;
- greater compatibility among national laws;
- easier development of cross-border projects;
- stronger legal certainty;
- and more effective cooperation between public authorities and national oil companies.
Harmonisation does not mean uniformity.
It means that different national frameworks can become sufficiently compatible to allow a regional project to operate smoothly.
A national oil company should be able to develop a project with an African partner without facing entirely different and unpredictable rules at every border.
Regulatory convergence is therefore a condition for energy integration.
From Institutional Cooperation to Joint Projects
African cooperation must not be limited to statements of intent, official visits or memoranda of understanding.
It must result in identifiable, financed and implemented projects.
Our national oil companies can jointly develop:
- cross-border pipelines;
- terminals and storage infrastructure;
- regional refineries;
- natural-gas and gas-to-power projects;
- fertiliser and petrochemical facilities;
- power plants;
- energy interconnections;
- joint marketing platforms;
- and projects related to renewable energy and hydrogen.
These projects can address several African priorities simultaneously: improving energy access, strengthening security of supply, reducing imports, developing local industries and creating jobs.
A joint project should not be viewed as a loss of sovereignty. It should be designed as an instrument enabling each country to better develop its own resources while benefiting from access to a larger market.
Refining as a Continental Priority
Refining offers a particularly clear example of the need for stronger cooperation.
Africa produces oil, yet still imports a large share of the refined products it consumes. This situation weakens economies, exposes populations to international-market volatility and deprives the continent of major industrial opportunities.
It will not always be economically rational for every country to build its own refinery. However, it may be highly relevant to develop shared regional refining capacity supplied by several producers and serving several markets.
National oil companies can play a decisive role in:
- securing crude supply;
- taking equity positions;
- securing markets and off-take;
- developing shared infrastructure;
- training personnel;
- and establishing regional supply agreements.
The CEO platform could facilitate the identification of joint refining projects, supply partnerships and mechanisms for sharing expertise.
Gas as a Driver of Integration
Natural gas also offers significant opportunities for cooperation among national oil companies.
African countries can work together on:
- gas-field development;
- processing infrastructure;
- cross-border gas pipelines;
- LNG terminals;
- gas-to-power projects;
- distribution networks;
- and industries that use gas as a feedstock.
Gas should not be viewed solely as an export commodity. It must contribute to electrification, industrialisation, fertiliser production and the competitiveness of African economies.
To achieve this, national oil companies must develop partnerships that allow them to share investment, risks and markets.
The harmonisation of regulatory frameworks will facilitate these projects by improving legal predictability and bankability.
Sharing Skills and Technology
Cooperation must not be limited to financial investment.
It must also encompass skills, technology and expertise.
African national oil companies possess different but complementary experience in:
- exploration and production;
- reservoir management;
- drilling;
- transportation;
- refining;
- marketing;
- industrial safety;
- digitalisation;
- maintenance;
- project management;
- and emissions reduction.
The digital CEO platform can become the starting point for more structured cooperation in these areas.
It could facilitate connections among experts, the creation of technical working groups, and the development of joint training and technology-transfer programmes.
This could take the form of:
- African centres for specialised training;
- executive-exchange programmes;
- university partnerships;
- joint laboratories;
- research platforms;
- technical-training programmes;
- and shared professional standards.
The continent should no longer have to systematically rely on external expertise for the development of its energy projects.
Building African Consortia
Fragmentation reduces negotiating power and increases costs.
African consortia can enable national oil companies to:
- present larger project portfolios;
- share risks;
- obtain better procurement terms;
- attract high-quality international partners;
- gain easier access to capital markets;
- and strengthen their position in commercial and technology negotiations.
These consortia should not exclude international investors. Rather, they should enable Africa to engage with them from a more structured and balanced position.
The objective is not to replace external partners, but to ensure that partnerships are based on genuine complementarity.
Africa must move from isolated projects to African platforms.
The Role of APPO
APPO can act as a facilitator and catalyst.
It can contribute to:
- identifying complementarities among national oil companies;
- promoting regional projects;
- facilitating dialogue between governments and companies;
- developing common standards;
- supporting the exchange of experience;
- organising dialogue among executives;
- supporting the preparation of bankable projects;
- and facilitating the convergence of regulatory frameworks.
The digital CEO platform and the harmonisation of petroleum codes are two complementary instruments.
The platform connects leaders and companies.
Regulatory harmonisation creates the environment in which their projects can operate.
One facilitates institutional and operational cooperation. The other facilitates legal, commercial and financial cooperation.
Together, they can contribute to building a genuine African energy market.
The Africa Energy Bank: A Natural Partner
The creation of the Africa Energy Bank offers a new opportunity to support this transformation.
National oil companies often possess the assets and expertise, but they need appropriate financing, guarantees, project-structuring capacity and instruments capable of reducing risk.
The Bank can contribute by:
- financing project preparation;
- structuring regional transactions;
- providing guarantees;
- mobilising private capital;
- supporting refining projects;
- financing gas infrastructure;
- supporting electricity interconnections;
- and financing energy-related industrialisation projects.
However, the Bank will only be able to finance projects that are sufficiently prepared.
National oil companies must therefore strengthen their capabilities in project preparation, financial structuring and project governance.
The relationship between national oil companies and the Africa Energy Bank should be based on partnership: the former bring assets, expertise and market knowledge; the latter provides financial instruments, mobilisation capacity and a continental perspective.
A New Culture of Cooperation
The transformation of national oil companies requires a new culture of cooperation.
Leaders must be able to think simultaneously:
- at the national level;
- at the regional level;
- and at the global level.
They must protect their countries’ interests while identifying areas in which cooperation creates greater value than isolated action.
They must also remain attentive to transparency, performance, safety, environmental responsibility and social accountability.
A modern national oil company must be:
- technically competent;
- financially disciplined;
- commercially dynamic;
- open to partnerships;
- capable of innovation;
- and committed to the development of its communities.
The future will not be built solely on available resources, but on the quality of the institutions, cooperation tools and teams that develop them.
Conclusion: A Continental Ambition
Africa can no longer be satisfied with an energy sector made up of capable but isolated actors.
It must build an ecosystem in which national oil companies work together, share expertise, develop common infrastructure and mobilise the capital required to transform the continent.
APPO has begun putting in place the instruments for this new dynamic:
- a digital platform connecting the CEOs of African national oil companies;
- a process for harmonising petroleum codes;
- the progressive convergence of regulatory frameworks;
- and strengthened cooperation with African financial institutions.
These initiatives must now be directed towards measurable results.
Our national oil companies must remain national in their mandate, but become African in their ambition.
They must serve as instruments of:
- energy security;
- industrialisation;
- job creation;
- increased trade;
- regional integration;
- and African economic sovereignty.
The path is demanding. It requires us to overcome institutional silos, improve governance, accept risk-sharing and build trust among institutions and companies.
But the opportunity is worth the effort.
A regional refinery, a cross-border gas pipeline, a shared storage platform, an electricity interconnection or an African consortium are not merely energy projects.
They are instruments of development and building blocks of the continent’s economic unity.
Africa has the resources. It has the companies. It has the skills.
APPO is progressively putting in place the platforms, standards and instruments needed to connect them.
Now, we must move to action.
Let us turn national champions into continental partners.
Let us turn isolated projects into African value chains.
And let us turn cooperation into a force for transformation.
