September 2018

How did you come to be in the oil and gas industry? 

After graduating in Geology I joined BP working in the UK North Sea. Following a couple of career moves I was based in Johannesburg working in project finance when the opportunity to start Nedbank’s Oil & Gas team was a great way to return to the industry.

What makes the MSGBC Basin an attractive region to do business?

It’s a relatively green-field space and being at the early stage of development there is tremendous potential to build meaningful multi-decade production hubs. The new upstream projects can provide both the energy to grow domestic markets but also the export earnings to facilitate social and economic development. It’s an exciting time to be here.

What do you see as the key challenges facing the industry in the region over the coming 5-10 years? 

There is clearly a lot to do to grow the human capital and infrastructure needed to make the MSGBC oil and gas investments in the region attractive when faced with the worldwide competition for capital. The challenge for industry and government is to work together to build the skills and assets needed to deliver and maximise the opportunity.

What have been the evolutions in your business in the African region over recent years?

The commodity price fall did slow down new business but in the last 18 months we have completed a number of new transactions in Nigeria, Ghana and Gabon. Nedbank’s wider strategy is to grow the African business across multiple sectors and also through our equity shareholding in Ecobank.

What are you most looking forward to at the MSGBC Basin Summit & Exhibition? What would you like to take away from the gathering?

Meeting more of the people involved in delivering the projects across the MSGBC region. I’d like to take away a sense of strong political commitment to getting the projects into development and production as quickly as possible.