Africa’s current estimates of 120 million barrels of oil and 632 trillion cubic feet (17.89 trillion cubic metres) of gas reserves are “grossly conservative”, according to African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO) secretary-general Omar Farouk Ibrahim.

Speaking at the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) conference in Cape Town on April 7, Ibrahim said advancements in exploration technology could lead to these figures doubling or even more, as reported by Engineering News.

He pointed to recent discoveries in countries such as Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Mauritania and Ghana as evidence supporting APPO’s belief that Africa holds far greater hydrocarbon potential than currently acknowledged.

However, Ibrahim criticised the historic approach to exploration on the continent, noting that Africa’s oil and gas industry has long been driven by the needs of external markets rather than local demand. He argued that exploration activity typically surges when global prices rise, only to decline when prices fall – with little consideration for Africa’s own energy needs. “In other words, it has never been Africa first,” he is quoted as saying.

Ibrahim also highlighted the stark contradiction in energy access, observing that while Africa exports 75% of its oil and 45% of its gas, the majority of its population still lacks access to modern energy. He described the continent’s energy infrastructure as limited, only connecting oil and gas fields to ports for export rather than serving domestic users.

ARDA president Mustapha Abdul-Hamid echoed these concerns, saying that Africa must prioritise its own development agenda, similarly to Donald Trump’s policy of ‘America First’ and a more inward-looking Europe.

“We must determine our own agenda for growth, because that is the only way to survive in a world where everyone cares only about themselves,” Abdul-Hamid said. “We must develop Afrocentric solutions for the problems that confront us.”

According to APPO’s secretary-general, Africa has often treated others as having the first right to its energy resources, only turning inward when exports were rejected. Ibrahim also noted the pressure from external entities like the EU to abandon fossil fuels in favour of cleaner alternatives – a shift many African oil and gas producers have been reluctant to make.

“It took the energy transition for us to realise our mistakes,” Ibrahim said, as cited by Engineering News. “It took the decision of those on whom we have been heavily dependent on for decades to say that they don’t want our energy, for us to realise that we have never controlled the finance, the technologies, or the markets of the lifelines of our national economies. But it is better late than never. Africa is changing for the better,” he added.

Ibrahim explained that Africa’s oil and gas industry, with help from organisations like APPO and ARDA, was now focused on training people in the skills and technologies needed to make better use of the continent’s oil and gas resources. He highlighted regional developments leading to the construction of intra-continental pipelines and creating cross-border energy markets.

The secretary-general also mentioned the establishment of the African Energy Bank (AEB), an independent pan-African energy-focused development finance institution. As recently reported by NewsBase, three APPO members  – Nigeria, Angola and Ghana – have fulfilled their capital commitments to the AEB, with the contributions amounting to 44% of the minimum required funding of $5bn essential for the bank to start its operations.