On September 22nd, the Bilateral Chamber hosted H.E. Gabriel M. Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, for an exclusive conversation highlighting Equatorial Guinea’s energy transformation and emerging opportunities. 

 

Over the past two decades, Equatorial Guinea has established itself as one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s top five oil and gas producing countries, with commercial opportunities in the energy industry and other sectors, such as mining and infrastructure. 

 

H.E. Minister Obiang Lima discussed briefly the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Equatorial Guinea’s energy industry. Despite a difficult year, the Minister emphasized that the nation had many achievements including offering companies two-year extensions, maintaining its workforce, and gaining production outputs in methanol, LPG, and LNG. 

 

Following the Minister’s keynote, Dr. Adel Chaouch, President and CEO of ShaMaran Petroleum Corp. and Member of the Bilateral Chamber, engaged in dialogue with the Minister on a range of topics.

 

The Minister noted that the Ministry’s most important goal for next year is to create a new petroleum law with a focus on gas, and to provide fiscal incentives to attract foreign investment. Once the law is ratified, the Ministry will launch bids. Additionally, the Minister expressed his intent to restructure the two national companies - GEPetrol and Sonagas - to create one entity capable of addressing the nation’s needs. He spoke about the Gas Mega Hub and the current status of that project. He also noted that mining is a growing industry.

 

Attendees included representatives from International Oil Companies, service companies, and others.

 

Bilateral Chamber members may request a recording of the program by emailing Ms. Sukejna Kovacevic at sukejna@bilateralchamber.org.