The 2025 Africa Gas Innovation Summit (AGIS), themed “Building a Resilient African Gas Economy through Innovation and Collaboration”, comes at a pivotal time when Africa’s vast gas resources are increasingly seen as critical to both domestic development and global energy security. As nations navigate the dual challenge of energy transition and economic growth, there is a pressing need for African countries to rethink how they explore, process, and utilise natural gas.
Renowned petroleum economists and energy policy experts have been at the forefront of discourse on sustainable gas development in Africa. Their insights are invaluable in understanding how innovation, policy alignment, and strategic partnerships can strengthen Africa’s gas ecosystem.
In this interview, Valuechain converses with Engr. Salahuddeen M. Tahir, the immediate past Council Chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Nigerian Council. Salahuddeen brings 23 years of experience in the oil and gas sector to the discussion.
In what ways is collaboration across countries, industries, or institutions vital for the future of Africa’s gas industry?
Collaboration, in simple terms, refers to the coming together of individuals to work towards creating or developing a product for their mutual benefit. Collectively, Africa possesses over 625 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas reserves, representing almost 10% of the global gas reserve base. Traditional gas players Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt have witnessed tremendous growth in their respective gas industries. With a robust collaborative framework, new entrants like Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, and Ghana can fast-track the development of their gas industries by keying into the lessons learnt over the years by these traditional players. This will not only spearhead the rapid development of gas resources across the continent but also ensure that saved costs are allocated to other sectors of their respective economies. Collaboration across the African gas industry will develop human resource skills and introduce efficiency and transparency in business. AGIS is deliberately bringing together the industry, academic institutions and policymakers towards fostering this collaborative framework. Africa has a gas resource base, and it is only through collaboration that the potential can be rapidly unleashed for the benefit of Africa and Africans.
EXCERPTS:
What specific innovations in gas exploration, processing, or utilisation are most promising for Africa, and what role do digital technologies (AI, data analytics, and automation) play in strengthening the gas value chain?
Our African oil and gas industry is faced with several challenges, which majorly include financing, a technological and skills gap, high costs of oil and gas production, infrastructure challenges, a global push for transition to cleaner energy, and security issues. To overcome these challenges, the continent must embrace innovation. To innovate, new products, concepts, services, methods, or techniques must be developed or adopted. Today, gas exploration and production occur in frontier terrains hitherto unthinkable. More efficient processes have been developed to treat and monetise produced gas volumes. Gas flaring is fast becoming a thing of the past as new technologies are being introduced to capture as little as vent gas from operational facilities. Leveraging technological advances is critical towards supporting collaboration and the growth of the African gas industry. Digital technologies introduce transparency and efficiency in business dealings while providing access to a broader gas market space.
How can African gas-producing nations coordinate their policies to avoid duplication and foster synergy?
Alignment of policies and regulations across the different African gas-producing countries will bring about improved economic and social outcomes, enhanced regulatory coherence and increased collaboration. Harmonising and coordinating these policies appropriately will lead to increased market access, reduced regulatory costs, and greater innovation. Businesses will always thrive in a fiscally and politically stable market. Creating a platform to drive harmonisation of gas policies and regulations across Africa is achievable and can be realised through bodies such as the African Union.
What key regulatory reforms are necessary to build a resilient and investor-attractive gas economy, and how can policies support both economic growth and environmental sustainability in the gas sector?
Regulatory reforms in Africa should focus on creating a transparent, predictable, and efficient regulatory framework towards fostering a stable and investor-attractive gas economy. To achieve this, regulators should simplify processes for obtaining licensing and permits, establish clear and stable fiscal terms, and promote competition while ensuring regulatory independence and consistency. Additionally, reforms should aim to encourage local participation in the industry and investment in infrastructure to cover the evident gaps across the continent and prioritise environmental sustainability among other necessities. Policies for the gas sector can be targeted to support both economic growth and environmental sustainability by encouraging investments in cleaner and efficient energy technologies. Appropriate enforcement measures can also be utilised to responsibly manage the environment. These measures include minimisation of gas flares, promoting carbon capture and storage, encouraging the development of renewable energy sources, promoting community engagement to ensure a just transition and establishing carbon emissions trading platforms.
How can we address the critical infrastructure gaps impeding Africa’s gas sector?
Gas infrastructure development requires huge CAPEX. As we know, resources across Africa are limited, considering the sectors with competing needs. Funding across the globe is becoming tighter due to the push by the global north countries for the transition to cleaner energy sources. As such, addressing Africa’s critical gas infrastructure gaps will require a multi-faceted approach focusing on innovative ideas to drive regional integration and policy reforms. This includes attracting private investment through public-private partnerships, developing regional gas transmission networks, and promoting energy efficiency and diversification. We are beginning to witness such initiatives: the extension of vital natural gas infrastructure across regions such as the proposed African Atlantic Gas Pipeline from Nigeria to Morocco and the Tanzania-Uganda Gas Pipeline and Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline. We heard the Secretary General of APPO during his keynote address on the progress made in setting up the African Energy Bank to fund the development of African oil and gas infrastructure. This is a dream turning to reality and a testament to the African collaborative potential. AFREXIM has lived up to its mandate and is today supporting several gas infrastructure projects across Africa.
What skills and knowledge are most needed to drive innovation in the African gas industry?
Innovation is the key to a guaranteed and sustainable African gas industry. Industry professionals will require a combination of strong technical and non-technical skills, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, to drive innovation. Networking and the exchange of ideas with professionals across the global industry are essential. This can be achieved by joining international professional bodies such as the Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPEI). SPEI offers the opportunity to interact with international professionals, exchange ideas, and disseminate knowledge through paper publications, journals and programmes such as the Distinguished Lecture Series. Professionals in the African gas industry space must have a mindset of continuous learning and should readily embrace new technologies and regulations.
How can Africa use AGIS and platforms like APPO to position itself as a unified voice in global energy governance?
Africa can leverage AGIS and APPO to project a unified voice in global energy governance by driving collaboration across African energy producers towards adopting innovative initiatives such as policy and regulatory harmonisation, environmentally sustainable practices, the adoption of digital technologies, talent and skilled development, growing local content capacity and advocating for a just energy transition.
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Future editions of AGIS will continue prioritising investment-friendly policies, capacity building, collaboration, digitalisation, and education to support continuous industry development. The summit aims to encourage regional integration and knowledge sharing for the accelerated development of the vast African gas resource. Innovative financing, technology adaptation and collaboration will enable Africa to maximise its gas resources and become a global energy powerhouse.
The Africa Gas Innovation Summit (AGIS) focuses on the Penta-Helix model, where collaboration is encouraged among government, industry, academia, the entrepreneurial community, and venture financial institutions. This, as such, serves as a valuable platform for launching joint ventures, research initiatives, and pan-African projects. The major drivers for AGIS are interaction, idea exchange, and partnership development.