African Energy Leaders Call for Action on South-South Oil and Gas Partnerships

African and Caribbean energy leaders called for stronger cross-border investment, technology transfer and enforceable local-content requirements to ensure emerging oil and gas producers capture more value from their resources during the session South-South Energy Partnership: Advancing Africa’s Oil and Gas Future in 2026 at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town.

Ndapwilapo Selma Shimutwikeni, CEO, RichAfrica Consultancy, said partnerships could accelerate skills development.

“From a business perspective, we need to build partnerships that encourage joint ventures between experienced countries and emerging countries like Namibia,” she said. “We need to look beyond just oil production and actually look at the entire value chain.”

Building on Shimutwikeni’s remarks, Gilbert Yevi, Lead Consultant, Grenada Hydrocarbon Technical Working Group, called for partnerships that share risks and benefits rather than simply replace one source of financing with another.

“We want cooperation and a collaboration in risk sharing, skill sharing, and sharing in the benefits,” he said.

Yevi also advocated regional training centers to pool expertise and help emerging producers access established industry capabilities.

Expanding on the topic of local content, Eric Williams, Principal Consultant and President, Royal Triangle Energy Solutions, said policies must be linked to a broader national development strategy, using petroleum resources to build domestic industries rather than focusing solely on exports.

“The Trinidad model is about using the molecules to develop the country,” he said, arguing that this vision should shape negotiations with upstream investors and the terms of petroleum contracts.

Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Regional Chair for Africa, World Energy Council, said national sovereignty concerns continued to limit practical regional cooperation, despite public commitments to collaboration.

“The first question they ask is: ‘Will the industry be in my territory?’ If it’s not, why should I? And for as long as we have this mentality, believe me, this cooperation and collaboration we’re talking about will just be theory,” he said.

Across the discussion, speakers emphasized that cooperation must translate into financing, enforceable commitments and local capabilities that endure beyond individual projects.