African Energy Chamber Courts Latin American Operators for South Atlantic Gas Corridor

Africa’s main private-sector advocacy group for hydrocarbons is looking to deepen Africa South America energy ties at a future ARPEL Conference in Latin America and pull Latin American operators into a new South Atlantic gas corridor. The African Energy Chamber (AEC) is pitching African upstream, LNG and shale gas opportunities as early-stage growth plays for South American capital and technology.

Building a South Atlantic upstream corridor

The ARPEL Conference, organised by the Regional Association of Oil, Gas and Biofuels Sector Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARPEL), convenes oil and gas executives, regulators and service firms from across the region. NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, is expected to brief regional operators on bilateral market entry options, subject to confirmation of the event’s programme. The focus is on how South American firms can secure early ground in African frontier acreage.

The timing is deliberate. Africa is entering one of its most active upstream investment cycles in more than a decade. Upstream capital expenditure is projected to rise significantly in the mid‑2020s, with industry forecasts indicating tens of billions of dollars of annual spending across African oil and gas projects. Licensing rounds and farm‑in openings are under way or emerging in markets such as Angola, Nigeria, Algeria and Equatorial Guinea, with other countries periodically considering new rounds. This widens the entry window for new regional entrants.

Exploration results are also strengthening the case for early movers. Namibia has seen a series of high‑profile offshore exploration successes in recent wells. New discoveries offshore Ivory Coast and expanded drilling both onshore and offshore in several basins are creating fresh development themes. The AEC’s message will underline that operators with frontier, deep-water and unconventional track records can capture value before these basins become crowded.

Natural gas will sit at the centre of that pitch. Africa already supplies around 7–8% of global LNG trade, and the AEC expects that share to rise sharply by 2050 as new projects reach final investment decision. However, the most compelling numbers lie in discovered but undeveloped gas. The Rovuma basin in Mozambique is estimated to hold on the order of 100–125 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas resources. Nigeria’s Niger Delta underpins the country’s proven gas reserves of roughly 200 trillion cubic feet (tcf), among the largest in the world. These volumes give Africa the resource base to emerge as a leading LNG hub, if midstream and export infrastructure can be financed and executed at scale.

Shale know-how and LNG expertise in demand

The AEC is also looking to highlight unconventional gas as a new vector for Africa South America energy co-operation. Algeria holds an estimated 700+ tcf of technically recoverable shale gas resources, according to EIA and industry estimates. South Africa and Tanzania continue to assess tight gas and shale prospects. Yet many African markets lack the operational and regulatory experience to commercialise these resources at speed.

South America offers a ready template. Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation has become the anchor of its gas sector. It accounts for a large share of national gas production and has proved out horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, completion design and complex supply chain management in unconventional plays.

The AEC argues that this hard-won experience, plus Argentina’s evolving regulatory framework for unconventionals, maps closely onto the needs of African shale and tight-gas basins.

Regional gas producers bring complementary strengths. Brazil has grown gas output alongside offshore oil. Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have long experience in LNG, cross-border gas pipelines and export terminals. Companies such as Golar LNG already straddle both sides of the Atlantic. Golar LNG is working with partners on deploying FLNG capacity linked to Argentine gas, including from Vaca Muerta, under long‑term charter frameworks that are being progressed. It earlier pioneered FLNG in Cameroon and converted the Gimi vessel for BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project, which is expected to support Senegal and Mauritania’s emergence as LNG exporters once onstream.

This overlap in capabilities is central to the AEC narrative. South American firms know how to unlock tight and stranded gas, structure cross-border gas value chains and execute complex LNG and FLNG projects. African states, for their part, offer resource scale, fresh acreage, improving regulatory clarity in many jurisdictions and governments keen to monetise gas for export and domestic power.

For investors, the prospect of these meetings signals a maturing South Atlantic energy corridor built on gas and unconventionals rather than just crude. The opportunities lie in backing early-mover operators into high-impact African acreage, financing technology transfer from South American unconventionals, and helping build integrated LNG and FLNG chains that connect African volumes to tightening global markets.

Over the next 12–24 months, the projects and partnerships that emerge from this Africa South America energy courtship will be the ones to watch for long-term growth exposure on both sides of the Atlantic.

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