Tower was formed in 2006 with two licenses, one covering the most Northerly block in the Albertine Rift play in Uganda, and one covering two offshore blocks in Namibia near the border with Angola. Both proved frustrating, but positioned the company well as an Operator for future ventures in Africa. Today the company operates the Thali license offshore Cameroon, which already has two oil discovery wells; and the company also operates two large exploration blocks in Zambia near the border with Zimbabwe. The company also partners with NewAge in the Algoa-Gamtoos offshore block, which NewAge operates in South Africa, and the company also remains active in Namibia.

Where do you see the opportunities for growth within the industry in the next 5 years and how is Tower Resources positioned to support these opportunities?

We believe that the industry has underinvested in exploration and production over the past four years, and this will create a production shortfall to be filled over the coming years. We also believe that the growing power demand in Africa, coupled with the improvement in the economics of smaller-scale gas-to-power projects, create opportunities for shallow gas developments which might not have been attractive a few years ago. Our Cameroon project aims to offset potential declines in oil production from existing Atlantic Basin fields, and our exploration in Zambia aims to provide gas for power in local markets.

What game-changing discovery/ project/ technology is currently making waves?

The Golar floating LNG project, which is close to our license in Cameroon, is providing commercial proof of a cost-effective way to bring new sources of offshore natural gas to market at lower scales than traditional on-shore LNG facilities.

How important is the Africa Assembly as a meeting platform for the industry and what are you most looking forward to at the Assembly

The Africa Assembly is a key date for the international oil & gas community and features a remarkably good representation of both large and small companies as well as government. I am looking forward to meeting and hearing from as many people as possible.

If you were to nominate an award winner for an industry success story from the last year, what would the award be and who/ which company would you award it too?

I would make an award for contrarian entrepreneurship. I have been very impressed with what President Energy has achieved last year in Argentina, creating a consortium and achieving production in a country that many regard as difficult, from a standing start and with only modest capital.