Author Archives: NJ Ayuk

AOG 2022 Presents A Great Opportunity To Invest In Angola’s Oil And Gas Future – Nj Ayuk

NJ Ayuk is the founder and CEO of Centurion Law Group and the executive chair of the Africa Energy Chamber of Commerce.

Now more than ever is the time to invest in Angola’s energy industry and drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth on the back of oil and gas. At a time when global markets are turning to African oil and gas, Angola has emerged as a highly attractive investment destination among international players, with the country’s […]

No need to Lament about the Oil Discovery in Namibia’s Kavango Basin. What About the Huge Benefits It Represents for Namibians? (By NJ Ayuk)

Six months ago, Canadian oil and gas company Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (“ReconAfrica”) began exploratory drilling in the deep Kavango Basin of northeast Namibia and into northwest Botswana. The company holds a total licensed area of 8.5 million acres in the area, and it hoped to find massive reserves of conventional oil in this thick […]

Net Zero? Not for Africa. Not Yet. Africa Must Fight Energy Poverty with Oil and Gas Development

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber On May 18, 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released “Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector,” which outlines plans for the global energy sector to reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Achieving net zero emissions means the amount of greenhouse […]

Greenpeace and Western Anti Africa Energy Groups Take the Wrong Approach to East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) in Uganda and Tanzania

By NJ Ayuk, Executive President of the African Energy Chamber. If someone were to put me on the spot and ask me to name an environmentalist group, I’d probably blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, Greenpeace. There are obvious reasons for this: Greenpeace has been around for more than 50 years, and […]

Energy Industry will be the bedrock of Africa’s Road to Recovery

African Energy producers and the governments are facing an unprecedented economic crisis due to the Coronavirus, unemployment, recession, and energy poverty and energy transition concerns. The African Energy Chamber’s Road to Recovery: How the African energy industry can reshape itself for a post-COVID comeback offers a commonsense strategy for the public and the private sector […]

Africa needs Pragmatic Free Market policies to attract capital into Gas markets

NJ Ayuk, CEO, Centurion Law Group

Speaking at the International Petroleum (IP) Week on February 25, 2021, I commended Nigeria for its efforts in driving gas monetization, but we have to be clear that our industry and hardworking people remain frustrated by the delays and inability to pass and sign the Petroleum Industry Bill. There needs to be that fierce sense […]

It’s Time to Rethink Licensing Rounds: For Africa’s Oil- and Gas-Producing Countries, Negotiating the Current Environment May Require…Negotiation

In late 2019, as the African oil and gas industry was looking to the future with optimism, an Offshore Engineer wrote that the continent had reason to expect a “more productive 2020.” Instead, the unforeseen happened, and the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the oil and gas industry in Africa and around the […]

Ending Violence in Mozambique Will Require United Effort; African Energy Chamber Stands Ready to Assist

I won’t sugarcoat it: The situation in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province is dire. Armed conflicts between security forces and the militant Islamic group, Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamo (ASWJ), known locally as “al-Shabab” even though it has no connections to the Somali group with that name, have left dozens of people dead and displaced thousands since […]

Angolan Legal Reform Shows How Africa Can Use Oil and Gas As a Springboard Towards Job Creation— But Only if It Looks Beyond the Obvious Options

For decades, many of Africa’s oil- and gas-producing states followed a predictable pattern. They treated their oil and gas primarily as raw materials that could be sold abroad for a quick profit, rather than as a means of supporting efforts to make more lasting changes in the economy of the nation as a whole. This […]

African Countries Must Develop Strategic Fiscal Policies to Survive Oil and Gas Industry Changes on Horizon

NJ Ayuk

The future of the global oil and gas industry has been a subject of great fascination and debate for decades. Since COVID-19 surfaced, there has been even more conjecture on this topic and, in particular, the most likely timing for “peak oil,” when crude production reaches its maximum rate before going into permanent decline. Predictions […]

60 Years after Independence Nigeria’s Energy Industry Hasn’t Realised it’s Promise

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber On Oct. 1, 1960, everything seemed possible for Nigeria: After nearly 80 years of colonialism under Great Britain, it was finally an independent nation. During the newly independent nation’s earliest days, there was every reason for Nigerians to envision a bright future for themselves and their country, […]

Mozambique LNG Project Could Be Transformational for Mozambique — If Western Environmentalists Don’t Interfere

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber When Anadarko Petroleum Corp. confirmed last year it would be constructing a $20 billion liquified natural gas (LNG) plant in Mozambique, this was major news. Mozambique’s first onshore LNG plant would be creating tens of thousands of jobs — and contributing to sustainable, long-term economic growth that […]

Senegalese President Macky Sall Is Right About African Debt Relief — And the G20 Shouldn’t Stop There

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber “Flatten the curve.” Do you remember that phrase? It was on everyone’s lips back in the spring, when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began rampaging across the world in earnest. At the time, the idea was that the best way to combat the germ known as SARS […]

It’s Time for the Legal Profession to Embrace Change

By NJ Ayuk, CEO, Centurion Law Group Under the best economic circumstances, paying for legal services can be difficult for small businesses and startups. With the COVID-19 pandemic currently wreaking havoc on the global economy — and companies’ cash flow — there’s a good chance that businesses around the globe are putting their legal needs […]

African Lives Matter, Too : Energy Policy Decisions Should Consider Their Needs

NJ Ayuk is the CEO of Centurion Law Group and the Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

As African oil and gas countries struggle with Covid-19’s devastating impact on demand, two international groups seem to be celebrating it. Earlier this month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) described the low oil prices caused by the pandemic as a “golden opportunity” for governments to phase-out fossil […]

Covid-19 and the Price War: Why Now Could Be a Good Time for U.S. Independent Oil and Gas Producers to Consider Opportunities in Africa

NJ Ayuk is the CEO of Centurion Law Group and the Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

It isn’t breaking news that the world is currently on “lock-down mode.” Around the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has made conditions dire and triggered global economic shutdowns. For the oil and gas market, it has been an especially trying time. As our global society battles the virus, demand for oil and gas has plummeted. In […]

The rise and rise of African oil and gas: Seven trends that will shape sub-Saharan Africa’s oil and gas in 2020 and beyond

Africa holds around 7% of the world’s proven crude oil and natural gas reserves, yet the continent remains largely under-explored. It’s safe to say that the motherland is far from having exploited its full potential. For this potential to bear fruit and translate into economic development and jobs, several things need to happen. Good thing […]

NJ Ayuk: Stop giving us aid, it’s killing us!

NJ Ayuk is the founder and CEO of Centurion Law Group and the executive chair of the Africa Energy Chamber of Commerce.

Looking at Africa and only pushing for aid is not in the interest of the everyday Africans. It is about the egos of the elites and latte intellectuals who believe they have the solutions to why the continent is still poor.  As Africa’s population and economies surge, greater opportunities for development are presented, societies change, […]

10 developments that will shape Africa’s energy sector in 2019

MENA NEW ENERGY 2019, DUBAI, UAE. MENA Renewable Energy Project Pipeline. Wind, solar, energy storage conference and exhibition

This year will be key for the advancement of new exploration and production development projects from West to East Africa After a year of rebound and recovery, Africa’s old and new hydrocarbons markets have an opportunity to further entrench the continent’s position as the world’s hottest oil and gas frontier in 2019. However, the new […]

What Angola can learn from Nigeria as it creates remarkable opportunities for marginal oil production

NJ Ayuk is the founder and CEO of Centurion Law Group and the executive chair of the Africa Energy Chamber of Commerce.

The Nigerian experience with marginal oil field development had measurable success, with 24 licenses awarded to 31 companies, some as sole operators and others as joint-ventures With production declining and investment scarce, the Angolan leadership has put in place a number of new policies to reboot its oil industry and propel economic development. However, those […]

Is President João Lourenço’s Team Driving the Angolan Oil Rebound?

The Fortaleza de Sao Miguel (1576) watches over the south end of the bay at Luanda, Angola. 8 April 2015. Source: Luanda Skyline. Photo Credit: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada.

The first eleven months of 2018 saw Angola make more money from oil than in any of the previous four years, at the tune of USD$8.7 billion In December, I was accompanying OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo and Africa Oil and Power CEO, Guillaume Doane on a working visit to Angola. This is an […]

An African Perspective: No Good Will Come From NOPEC

By NJ Ayuk, CEO of Centurion Law Group and Chairman of the Africa Energy Chamber of Commerce. Throughout the years I spent as an undergraduate and law school student in the U.S., one of the things I truly admired was American ingenuity. I loved following news stories about U.S. startups that scraped together enough money […]