African Energy Week (AEW) 2025: Invest in African Energies is putting a spotlight on the transformative potential of energy projects beyond resource extraction, emphasizing local content, workforce development and sustainable community impact. A central feature of the conference – the Local Content Roundtable on Day 2, sponsored by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) – will explore how energy companies and governments can work together to build African capacity, strengthen local supply chains and create meaningful employment.
Moderated by Hamlet Morule, Executive Head of Communications & External Affairs at bp South Africa, the roundtable will convene industry leaders and policy experts from across the continent. Speakers include Abdulmalik Halilu, Director of Corporate Services at NCDMB; Alexander Merson, SVP of Asset Operations at Petrofac; Tony Paul, Key Associate for In-Country Value Addition at Future Energy Partners; Bradford Donohue, CEO of IHRDC; Jorge de Morais, General Manager at KAESO Energy Services; Mor Bakhoum, Technical Secretary at ST-CNSL Senegal; and a senior representative from AGL.
The session will examine practical challenges in local content implementation across Angola, Nigeria and South Africa – including limited technical skills, underdeveloped SME ecosystems and inconsistent policy enforcement – as well as showcase how specific projects are delivering tangible economic benefits.
In Nigeria, for example, the Brass Fertilizer and Petrochemical Project in Bayelsa State is a $3.5 billion initiative that not only produces petrochemical and gas-based products for export but also generates over 5,000 direct and 35,000 indirect jobs. It reduces routine gas flaring, supplies local industries and power plants and cuts fertilizer imports by nearly 30%, saving the country an estimated $200 million annually. This project exemplifies how energy development can stimulate local supply chains, boost industrial capacity and create lasting employment opportunities.
In Angola, the Begonia and CLOV Phase 3 offshore projects, which began production in July 2025, are adding 60,000 barrels per day to the country’s output. Begonia is the first project between blocks in Angola with a “significant” component of local content – according to national concessionaire ANPG – demonstrating the country’s commitment to integrating local labor and suppliers into offshore operations.
“Local content is more than just a compliance requirement. It’s about creating sustainable jobs, developing local supply chains and empowering communities. Every energy project should leave a tangible legacy for the people and economies where it operates,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.
AEW 2025’s programming underlines that energy development in Africa is shifting from short-term extraction to long-term economic transformation. By embedding workforce development and supplier capacity into core strategies, governments and companies are transferring skills, supporting SMEs and enabling communities to benefit directly from Africa’s energy growth.
The Local Content Roundtable reinforces that achieving these outcomes requires collaboration, innovation and consistent policy enforcement. Across the continent, from Nigeria’s petrochemical plants to Angola’s deepwater FPSOs, energy initiatives are now creating enduring value for local economies, expanding skills and building resilient supply chains.
Africa Fact: A collection of one thousand six hundred books was considered a small library for a West African scholar of the 16th century. Professor Ahmed Baba of Timbuktu is recorded as saying that he had the smallest library of any of his friends – he had only 1600 volumes.
Bad Beh8Vior
With enough thrust, pigs, can in fact fly
Woodland Beauty
An retired elderly couple visit London..
They get picked up from the airport in a london black cab and head off into the city for some adventure.
The cab driver say \”where you from guvnor?
Husband. \”we\’re from South Africa\”..
The wife is a little hard of hearing asks her husband.
\”What did he say?\”
The husband turns to his wife and says louder \”the cab driver asked us where we were from, I told him South Africa!\”
The cabbie continues \”I was in the merchant navy years back… I got to drop anchor down your way, a few times in Johannesburg\”
The husband replies \”oh wow that\’s where we\’re from originally, now we\’re in Cape Town.\”
The wife asks the husband again \”what did he say?\”.
The husband again relays the unheard conversation \”the cab driver says he spent some time in the navy and went down to joberg\”.
The wife smiles and nods.