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S Africa has adequate oil and gas expertise

29th November 2019

     

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The South African Oil & Gas Alliance (SAOGA) acting CEO Adrian Strydom is confident that South Africa has amassed adequate oil and gas expertise that will enable the country to service Southern Africa as well as the rest of the world.

“There is sufficient capacity to compete with the rest of the world’s big stakeholders in the sector,” said Strydom as he shared this view during the official opening of the four-day Africa Oil Week Showcase in Cape Town from November 4 to 8.

SAOGA formed part of the 15 local oil and gas companies and industry bodies housed by the South African National Pavilion provided by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), to profile the country’s oil and gas product offerings during the Africa Oil Week Showcase.

He outlined that SAOGA had been developing capacity in the industry for years, particularly artisans, and had strategically developed capacity in petroleum engineering and petroleum scientists.

“We have just completed a tracking study to determine how successful we were in developing our artisans.”

Strydom explained that SAOGA surveyed a sample of 160 people who had been trade tested as artisans, out of a group of 2 000 artisans that the organisation developed from 2017 to date.

He added that SAOGA was pleasantly surprised to find that 95% of those artisans were employed. He stated that this success spoke volumes regarding SAOGA’s competitive edge.

Additionally, Strydom commented that SAOGA, which had a membership of more than 240 oil and gas companies, was nearing its aspiration of developing into an export council.

“That is the focus and I feel that we can better achieve our mandate as an export council. At this present moment, we are a joint action group that is based in the Western Cape,” he said.

“By being a national organisation, we will be able to better serve our members.”

He added that the additional sustainability afforded by being an export council and the resources that accrued as a result would enable SAOGA to better serve the industry.

He explained that SAOGA, as an export council, would be able to complement the DTIC’s initiatives to a greater degree because the organisation would be able to plan ahead in terms of what it does, as well as where and how it does it, while ensuring that it dovetails with the DTIC’s agenda.

“I think by being an export council, it would make a huge difference in our effectiveness and I believe we can enhance the effect of what we are doing and become more streamlined,” said Strydom.

The Africa Oil Week is a leading event for Africa’s upstream oil and gas sector that is attended by more than 1 500 senior oil and gas decision-makers from the oil and gas value chain that seek to source partners, invest in new suppliers and broker new deals.

The 2019 summit expected to attract 24 ministers of energy, 20 national oil companies and more than 100 CEOs.

Edited by Nadine James
Features Deputy Editor

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