_1137.png)
Breaking News
Share
adsOilserv Limited, a unit of Nigeria’s Oilserv Group and one of West Africa’s largest energy infrastructure builders, has signed a memorandum of agreement with Gabon’s government to develop and commercialise hydrocarbon reserves in the country’s DEF-3 and D4-5 blocks, marking the company’s formal entry into Central Africa’s gas market. The agreement sets a framework for building gas transportation, compression and treatment infrastructure aimed at feeding thermal power plants and supporting broader industrial activity in Gabon. It positions Oilserv in a market industry estimates put at $2.12 billion by 2031, as the oil-dependent Central African nation looks to diversify its energy mix and monetise stranded gas reserves. Clotaire Kondja, Gabon’s minister of petroleum and gas, who signed on behalf of the government, cast the deal as part of a broader push to deepen intra-African energy partnerships. Speaking at the signing ceremony, he said the accord was an opportunity to strengthen cooperation and open up new business opportunities across the continent, and called for regional partners capable of turning Africa’s natural resources into lasting economic value. Kondja also used the occasion to press for lighter-touch, more investment-friendly policy across Africa’s energy sector, pointing to skills shortages and capital flight as persistent drags on growth. Environments that attract capital, keep it in-country and build local technical capacity, he said, would be essential to speeding up infrastructure development and shoring up African economies more broadly. adsads For Oilserv, the deal extends a footprint built over three decades largely inside Nigeria, where the company has worked on flagship projects including the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano and Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipelines, and has been involved in more than six power plant developments, among them the Geometric Power project, as well as Lagos State’s gas distribution network. “This partnership represents our Group’s expansion into a new market,” said Emeka Okwuosa, chairman and group chief executive of Oilserv Group. He said the Gabon engagement puts the company at the intersection of resource development, energy infrastructure, gas monetisation and national energy security, areas he described as central to Africa’s industrial and economic transformation. Related News Nigeria’s football brand is global, its business model is not Sterling Holdings reshuffles board, appoints former Ecobank risk chief VP Shettima unveils 11-storey Kwara Revenue House Okwuosa said Oilserv’s experience delivering complex energy infrastructure gives it the integrated capabilities and regional knowledge needed for the project, and framed the deal as part of a shift in the company’s ambitions, from executing individual projects to building integrated energy solutions across the hydrocarbon value chain.adsads Strategic partnerships of this kind, he said, would become increasingly important as African governments look to their natural resources to drive industrialisation and improve energy access. The Gabon agreement also feeds into Oilserv’s stated ambition of becoming a leading pan-African energy solutions provider, built on indigenous engineering expertise. “We are not only building infrastructure; we are helping to build the energy systems that power Africa’s future,” Okwuosa said. The signing follows the company’s participation in the Africa Oil & Gas Week conference in Accra, Ghana, where Oilserv executives took part in discussions on midstream development and the challenge of moving Africa’s gas from discovery to market. At a plenary session on the sidelines of the conference, Chuka Eze, managing director of Frazimex Engineering, argued that the continent needs to move faster on gas infrastructure, pointing to continued flaring even as many African countries face domestic energy shortfalls. Eze identified commercial pressures, infrastructure gaps and operational constraints as the primary obstacles to gas monetisation on the continent, and called for stronger policy frameworks alongside contractors with the technical track record to deliver large, complex projects. He also argued for country-specific energy strategies tailored to each nation’s resource base, with gas serving as a foundation for power generation and industrialisation where infrastructure already exists or can be built. Oilserv’s push into Gabon adds to a wave of interest from regional players in Central Africa’s underdeveloped gas infrastructure, as governments across the continent look to reduce flaring, cut reliance on imported fuel for power generation, and build out domestic industrial bases. The company has said the economic value of Africa’s gas reserves will only be realised once infrastructure links those resources to the industries and markets capable of putting them to productive use.
Oladehinde Oladipo Dipo Oladehinde is a skilled energy analyst with experience across Nigeria's energy sector alongside relevant know-how about Nigeria’s macro economy.
He provides a blend of market intelligence, financial analysis, industry insight, micro and macro-level analysis of a wide range of local and international issues as well as informed technical rudiments for policy-making and private directions. Share Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date Open In Whatsapp
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE Energy Petrol prices rise to N1,500 as crude surge stokes pressure Energy Saudi oil shock puts Nigeria in line for Europe's crude scramble Energy Dangote IPO gives NNPC what long-delayed listing could unlock
