African gas emerges from oil’s shadow

Producing, developing and harnessing gas across the continent is now a priority, but monetising and maximising the resource remains a challenge

African’s gas industry is full of dichotomies that are finally being resolved: oil versus gas, gas-to-power versus LNG, new exploration versus mature fields. An obsession with oil exploration had belied the fact that gas made up 75% of the hydrocarbons discovered since 2010. From being oil’s baby brother, gas is now all grown up and must stand on its own two feet. From all the 76b boe discovered over the past 15 years, some 57b boe has been the gaseous variety. And the gas outlook is upbeat as production is likely to continue gradually increasing from around 4m boe/d and has the potential to double over the next ten years. African hydrocarbon production will be supported in the midterm by re