JOHANNESBURG - Collaboration between the United States and Africa in the oil and gas sector will be high on the agenda at next week's Africa Oil Week summit in Cape Town, organisers said on Wednesday.
The United States shot to the top of the global oil and gas rankings with the emergence of shale gas earlier this decade and in 2018 averaged 17.87 million barrels per day, accounting for 18 percent of the world's production.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Africa Oil Week organisers said a priority for the US department of energy was to look towards Africa to develop opportunities in the exploration, production and monetization of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
"Under this new strategy the US government, including the department of energy, is looking to assist Africa advance economic prosperity and energy development across the continent without saddling them with unsustainable debt, or imperil their long-term economic development or their sovereignty," they said.
To further this policy, US assistant secretary for fossil energy Steven Winberg will join over 25 pan-African ministers at the November 4-8 summit and use the event to share his country's energy policy points and outline a vision for deeper US commitment to Africa in the oil, gas and power sectors.
This will encompass increased two-way trade and investment between the US and Africa, with the world's economic powerhouse making potential capital available on joint-ventures and to part-finance LNG infrastructure for energy-lacking African countries.
"We want our friends and partners in Africa to thrive, prosper, and control their own destinies," Winberg said in comments incorporated in the Africa Oil Week statement.
"And we welcome the opportunity to share with them not only our abundant energy resources, but also the knowledge and technologies that can help them develop their own resources.”
American corporations in the oil and gas sector are already very active on the continent. Earlier this year Texas energy company Anadarko Petroleum gave the green light to start building a $20 billion gas liquefaction and export terminal in Mozambique — the biggest such project ever approved in Africa.
Africa Oil Week is the leading oil and gas event for the continent, with over 1,800 key executives attending from around the world to broker new deals.