With the much over-emphasised the ‘Just Transition’ and providing universal accessibility to millions of Africans on the content, Africa calls for resources integration, strengthening local produce and investment as well as industrialisation of industries to create jobs, knowledge and skills within the continent.

To strengthen this call and contribute to the implementation of the African Union goal of Transforming the economy of across the continent, the African Energy Commission conducted a study on the exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas (fields and value chains) in Africa and produced a report: ‘‘Africa and the Just Energy Transition: Considerations for the Expansion of the African Oil & Gas Domestic Market”. The study provides a roadmap to pursue Africa’s integration agenda to ensure that Africa invest developing the oil and gas market to promote local consumption, trade, investment, infrastructure development as well as reduce Africa’s reliance on importing oil and gas products outside the continent.

The report also analyses the prerequisites for the establishment of the African Oil & Gas Domestic Market, in cognisant of the advantage for economies of scale offered by African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to allow countries with significant oil and gas reserves to develop cross-border infrastructures for trading crude oil, oil products and natural gas to countries where energy is in significant demand and it promotes local production, trade and consumption of goods.

The study is also based on publicly available data for the focus countries for the year 2020 and most recent years, as published on the African Energy Information System (AEIS) of AFREC and cover of the data points required for each country.
The study reveals that a wealth of oil and gas resources provides the economic foundations for the sustainable development of many African countries, while the discovery and development of new hydrocarbon fields continue to provide economic leverage through trade and investment.

A wealth of oil and gas resources provides the economic foundations for the sustainable development of many African countries, while the discovery and development of new hydrocarbon fields continue to provide economic leverage through trade and investment. This study has classified the oil and gas value chain in order to ensure that the business focused on upstream, midstream, downstream remain distinct, with clear risk transfer at each stage. Upstream includes all oil and gas field facilities, up to the point where oil and gas are sold or transferred to a transport system