Clarke_subbed 1/4/09 12:09 Page 29
should be at 600bcm (a dramatic increase on the current base of
around 190bcm).
Most gas investments will be connected to Africa’s upstream
industry, with LNG and gas pipelines accounting for a growing
share of the total. This market is expected to receive US$5 billion
per year up to the end of 2010, US$7 billion per year during
2011–2020 and around US$10 billion per year in the following
decade. Of this investment, around 60% is likely to be directed
at gas exploration and development, a component that will rise
over the period to 2030 to around US$7.5 billion per year. In
both the upstream industry and in gas/LNG, most funds for
investment will need to come from outside the continent.
This growing oil investment and finance prize has become
sought-after in Africa. Many institutions target Africa as a
continent where opportunities exist to finance oil and gas
equity–debt facilities whether in the upstream and/or
downstream industry. Players include large commercial banks,
investment houses, merchant banks, governments and state
agencies that act in the widening African energy finance game.
Institutions from six continents seek their piece of the African oil
prize, the greatest part of which is found in the continent’s
oil and gas assets. Even while financiers merely facilitate the
capture of these trophies, the financial stakes are huge and
growing. The companies seeking to secure Africa’s oil bounty
want their rewards, but at the same time operate to bring capital
fluidity, liquidity, expertise and specialisms to the African oil and
gas game. They offer Africa the prospect of creating a larger
and more competitive petroleum and energy landscape.
Whither Africa?
The future challenges in Africa are immense. It remains a
continent of great and enduring marginality on the world
economic stage. However, its oil and gas locomotive offers hope
(if not certainty) for a future that is better than the past. The
AFTER BREAKING
hydrocarbon bounty is an essential foundation for the shift of
Africa from its subsistence-bound and mediaeval structures
ALL THE RECORDS
towards accentuated modernity. This will be a long struggle with
IN PORT,
no easy or quick fix that will engage governments and
companies for the entire 21st century and beyond.
WE HAVE GONE
Before then, Africa faces daunting social and demographic
challenges, as its populace of around 1 billion circa 2010 or so
OFFSHORE
will double by 2050, according to UN estimates. It needs high
and sustained economic growth to dent – let alone wholly
eradicate – the impoverishment of its history. In the next 40
years or so, Africa will probably secure the benefits of most of its
In July 2008 the Jumbo Javelin performed a spectacular job Offshore
oil and gas potential. This valuable prize needs to be turned into Sabah in Eastern Malaysia. The work comprised the combined
new productive capacity, or Africa could once again slip
transportation and installation of 14 mooring piles. The piles measured
backwards. Many politicians and some in the media often
up to 56 meters in length with a weight of 135 tons. This record
breaking project was performed in water depths of 1300 meters.
underestimate the inherent dynamics that shape rising real
income per head over the long term, without which a quasi- Jumbo’s Deepwater Deployment System will be delivered mid
Malthusian world might await many of Africa's inhabitants on
2009, enabling Jumbo to install subsea structures and mooring
the other side of the oil and gas horizon. ■
systems in water depths of up to 3000 meters. With an offshore lifting
capacity of 1100 tons, Jumbo continues to strengthen it’s promise to
LIFT. SHIP. INSTALL. ALL IN ONE GO.
Selected and edited extracts from Crude Continent: The Struggle
for Africa’s Oil Prize (Profile Books, 2008).
WWW.JUMBO-OFFSHORE.NL
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156