African oil and gas companies have been urged to adopt new strategies including listing on both the local and international stock exchanges, to raise funds to finance their projects amidst the push for an energy transition which is starving in oil and gas projects.
The Acting CEO of Ghana’s national oil company (GNPC), Mr. Opoku Ahweneeh- Danquah gave the advice when he addressed a gathering of oil and gas industry players and investors on the second day of the ongoing 2022 African Energy Week in Cape Town, South Africa.
He noted that the global risk of tightening financial markets, coupled with the clear and present danger of capital flight out of African fossil fuel projects, is a clear indication to increase the involvement of the African financial sector in securing long-term capital for oil and gas projects.
“African oil and gas companies should increase their accessibility for equity investments through listings on local and international exchanges. Listings and capitalisation of non-African oil and gas companies on major stock exchanges completely dwarf that of African companies. Currently, no Africa NOC is listed on a public stock exchange in Africa or abroad compared to multiple listings of non-African NOCs…this can be partly blamed on the reluctance of African governments to divest some of their ownership of the NOCs,” he said.
“Overall, the ease of doing business in major oil-producing countries is sub-par compared to foreign oil-producing nations. In the World Bank’s 2020 ranking, there are no major African producers in the top hundred. This is a situation that has to improve,” he said
Mr. Opoku Ahweneeh-Danquah, however, praised the Nigerian national oil company, the NNPC, for planning to launch an IPO in mid-2023.
He added, “However, we are seeing the light shining bright. I want to give a call up to my Nigerian brothers; for instance, the Nigerian NOC, the NNPC plans to launch an IPO in mid-2023.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com