Africa's upstream investment terms fail to impress

The region will have to offer much more attractive investment terms to lure operators to its upstream

Put a group of oil company bosses in a room together at virtually any time in the industry's history and they will complain about investment terms or the regulatory environment in the countries they operate. Nowhere is this more evident than in sub-Saharan Africa. The continent is relatively under-explored with huge hydrocarbons potential but has struggled to attract funding as firms globally slashed upstream capital spending. Paul McDade, chief executive of Africa-focused Tullow Oil, told the Africa Oil Week conference in Cape Town that exploration licence terms must be competitive to attract new investors to the region's upstream. "This means governments and regulators being bold and flexi