Patrick Pouyanne, the CEO of TotalEnergies, has given an explanation for the company’s decision to invest a staggering $6 billion in energy projects in Angola rather than Nigeria.
Speaking with panelists at the Africa CEO in Kigali, Rwanda, Pouyanne stated that the project was redirected from Nigeria to Angola, a nation with a more stable legislative environment, due to inconsistent governmental decisions.
Despite being the most producing region in West Africa, the oil chief claimed that investment was unfeasible due to the unpredictable policy environment
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He added that TotalEnergies has not conducted oil exploration in the region for 12 years.
“Nigeria loves to open topics without closing them. You love to debate. There is always a new legislature in Nigeria about a new petroleum law. When you have such permanent debates, it’s difficult for investors looking for long-term structure to know what direction to go.
“In reality, the Niger Delta is the most prolific part of West Africa. But if you look at what happened, because of these debates, there has not been a single exploration in Nigeria for 12 years.
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“It’s important to have a debate and then settle it and put a framework on the table that investors can trust.
“We have countries that have perfectly integrated policies like Angola. So, we go to Angola and announced a very large $6 billion projects in the beginning of the week because there their framework is stable. So we know where we go,” Pouyanne said.
In addition, Pouyanne said that insecurity and the lack of human capital are two of the main issues facing investment in the country.
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According to him, investors need the guarantee that their investments are secured and not exposed to violence and demolition.
He also added that the firm is training individuals to boost human capital and required talents needed in the oil and gas sector.
“What are the challenges? Security comes first. For a CEO like me, security of my people is of utmost important. Fortunately, we have customs in the Niger Delta to deal with it.
“We also have finding talent has a difficulty. In some countries like Nigeria and Rwanda, we find difficult to find talent. Some of them have difficulty in education. And we can contribute to that. That’s some of the things we do, training people,” he said
