Independents drawn to African opportunities

Weak market sentiment for oil and gas stocks is opening E&P opportunities in Africa for private equity and small cap companies—and leading governments to rethink their fiscal terms to attract them

Few people in the oil and gas industry would disagree that Africa is the most exciting continent for exploration in the world, with the greatest concentration of unexplored basins and recently proven reserves. “Africa has a lot of outstanding opportunities,” says Keith Hill, president and CEO of Africa Oil Corp. “There are only two great places to be looking in unproven basins—Russia and Africa. Africa is probably the greatest frontier." The problem is that E&P has fallen out of fashion globally, with institutional investors piling pressure on listed companies about expensive and risky long-term investments, particularly while demand for oil and gas is clouded by doubts over the speed of