POINTE-NOIRE, Congo (Republic of the), May 26, 2026/APO Group/ –In the Republic of Congo’s offshore energy sector, where debates around local content have often centered on compliance thresholds and regulatory minimums, Ammat Global Resources is presenting a different approach. The independent upstream operator has built a workforce model in which 80-85% of all roles – including executive leadership, engineering and asset management – are held by Congolese nationals.

 

From its operational headquarters in Pointe-Noire to its offshore production assets across the Loango and Zatchi fields, Ammat’s organizational architecture reflects a deliberate shift away from expatriate-heavy operational control toward domestic technical ownership. In practical terms, this means Congolese petroleum engineers, reservoir specialists and asset managers are not only involved in field operations, but leading them.

This model stands in contrast to the long-established upstream norm in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where complex offshore assets have historically depended on expatriate technical managers, often at significant cost and with limited knowledge transfer. Ammat’s approach directly challenges that dependency assumption by embedding domestic expertise at the core of operational decision-making.

Operational Efficiency Gains

By consolidating technical authority within-country, the company reduces exposure to international staffing volatility, minimizes expatriate overhead costs, and shortens decision cycles across drilling, production optimization and maintenance planning. This creates a leaner operational profile that is particularly relevant in mature offshore assets, where efficiency gains often depend on speed of execution rather than capital expansion.

Equally important is the regulatory and institutional dimension. Deep domestic execution has strengthened Ammat’s alignment with Congolese authorities and regulatory stakeholders, creating a more predictable operating environment. In resource-dependent economies, this trust factor often determines the difference between stalled projects and sustained production lifecycles. By situating Congolese professionals in high-accountability roles, the company reduces the friction typically associated with external operators perceived as distant from national development priorities.

Local Content Redefined

The African Energy Chamber (AEC) has consistently argued that local content must move beyond employment quotas to become a mechanism for industrial capability-building. Ammat’s structure reflects this principle in practice. Rather than positioning local workers in peripheral service roles, the company has embedded them in core technical and strategic functions, effectively internalizing operational intelligence within the host country.

“Local content is about transferring real control, real expertise and real value creation to African professionals. What Ammat Global Resources is demonstrating in Congo is that when nationals are trusted with full operational responsibility, the result is not just compliance, but stronger assets, better decision-making, and long-term sustainability. This is the future of African energy,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the AEC.

From an ESG perspective, Ammat’s model also strengthens the social and governance pillars of its operations. Socially, it accelerates skills transfer, professional development and long-term employment stability for Congolese talent. Governance-wise, it enhances accountability by ensuring that decision-makers are embedded within the regulatory and community context in which assets operate.

The environmental side is also strengthened indirectly. Localized technical teams tend to respond more rapidly to operational inefficiencies, maintenance issues, and environmental risk factors due to proximity and institutional continuity. This reduces downtime and improves adherence to environmental management protocols, particularly in sensitive offshore environments.

Ultimately, Ammat Global Resources is positioning itself as a case study in what local content maturity can look like when treated as a core business strategy rather than a compliance obligation. By centering Congolese professionals across its value chain – from engineering to executive management – the company is demonstrating that localization can be a catalyst for operational resilience, cost efficiency and long-term partnership stability in Congo’s upstream sector.

KIGALI, Rwanda, May 25, 2026/APO Group/ –The Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI) (https://GABI.UNGlobalCompact.org) has shifted its new Digital and Health Action Pathways into a higher gear in order to accelerate the continent’s economic transformation by identifying and driving solutions to problems that slow progress.

 

Convening on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda on 15 May, the GABI Solutions Lab challenged some of Africa’s top business leaders to develop an ambitious, actionable work plan to overcome the roadblocks holding the continent back.

 

“Africa does not face a shortage of ideas, but a significant gap in execution and the financing required to scale solutions,” said Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact. “The GABI Solutions Lab was a focused working session where public and private sector leaders co-developed practical solutions, structured bankable partnerships, and unlocked viable financing pathways that can be advanced immediately.  The aim is to ensure that commitments are translated into measurable, real-world outcomes at scale,” she added.

 

The GABI Action Pathways for Digital Transformation and Health were launched at Unstoppable Africa last September by a coalition of African and global leaders committed to advancing transformation from aspiration to delivery. The Solutions Lab in Kigali advanced and connected those two pathways, using digital technology in health as a practical test case for the broader challenge of bringing private capital into public-interest infrastructure at scale. As co-architects of solutions, participants worked through the specific conditions that would make each challenge bankable and implementable, drawing on real-world scenarios presented by public and private sector leaders.

 

Among the key discussion themes were how to accelerate investment in digital public infrastructure, connectivity, skills, and governance to ensure that AI becomes a force multiplier for African development; how to reduce the adoption timeline for proven infrastructure solutions; and how to deploy financing models for sovereign digital infrastructure at scale across multiple African markets.

 

Caitlin Burton, CEO of AI and robotics company Zipline Africa, headquartered in Rwanda, highlighted the need to move beyond pilot programmes towards the scaled implementation of proven technologies. “Across much of Africa, adoption is still moving at the pace of traditional aid cycles and public sector implementation timelines rather than the speed of modern technology deployment. We need financing models, incentives, accountability mechanisms, and partnerships that can collapse the adoption timeline for proven infrastructure from decades to years and create greater urgency for action,” she said.

 

Kate Kallot, Founder and CEO of Kenya-based data infrastructure company, Amini, emphasized the importance of sovereign AI infrastructure and digital capability development across the continent, saying, “Many developers and builders across the continent lack the tools or access required to build solutions that reflect local realities. The lack of data is a symptom of a much larger digital divide, including limited connectivity and infrastructure gaps. The challenge now is how to deploy financing models for sovereign digital infrastructure at scale, across multiple markets, in a way that delivers real capability into the hands of governments and citizens within the next 12 months.”

 

Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani, spoke about the speed of AI adoption. “Without meaningful connectivity, skilled people, and governance systems that can support adoption at scale, we risk falling further behind. The real challenge is not whether Africa will adopt AI, but whether we have built the absorptive capacity required to use it to transform our economies and key sectors,” he said.

 

Senior industry leaders from the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Afreximbank, Ecobank, McKinsey, PMI, mPedigree, ServiceNow, Safaricom, and the United Nations were also present to drive the transformation conversation.

 

Now in its fifth year, GABI is a global platform that brings together business leaders, policymakers, and investors to drive Africa’s economic growth. It is built on a simple premise: Africa’s potential is unlocked when public ambition aligns with private capital — and that happens by doing business with Africa, not just in Africa.

 

Unstoppable Africa, GABI’s flagship event, will take place at the Marriott Marquis in New York on 20-21 September. Follow the latest developments at Unstoppable Africa – YouTube (http://apo-opa.co/4nO8nOz).

 

For more information on the Global Africa Business Initiative, visit GABI.UNGlobalCompact.org/.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, May 25, 2026/APO Group/ –The second annual Caribbean Energy Week (CEW) will take place in Guyana in July 2027, convening regional governments, international energy companies and investors at a pivotal moment for the Caribbean’s emergence as a global energy hub. Held under the patronage of President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and with the endorsement of The Honorable Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, the event highlights the country’s growing leadership in shaping the region’s energy future.

 

Under the theme, “Unlocking the Caribbean Energy Corridor: Oil, Gas, LNG & Investment for a New Global Hub,” CEW 2027 will focus on transforming the Caribbean from a set of fragmented markets into an integrated, globally competitive energy corridor. Central to this vision is deeper cross-border collaboration, accelerated infrastructure development and increased capital flows across the oil, gas and LNG value chains.

Momentum across the region continues to build. In Guyana, offshore production from the ExxonMobil-led Stabroek Block averaged approximately 914,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2026, with output expected to exceed one million barrels per day following the startup of the Uaru development. At the same time, upstream expansion remains robust, supported by new seismic campaigns, FPSO developments and ongoing work tied to the Longtail project. In neighboring Suriname, TotalEnergies is advancing its $10.5 billion GranMorgu offshore development alongside new exploration activity, underscoring sustained investor confidence in the Guyana-Suriname Basin and reinforcing the region’s long-term growth trajectory.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the focus is shifting toward revitalizing mature gas production through new upstream partnerships and cross-border developments, including progress on projects such as Manatee and increased collaboration with Venezuela to unlock stranded reserves. At the same time, the country is advancing efforts to expand its LNG and petrochemical value chains, positioning itself to remain a key gas processing and export hub in the Atlantic Basin.

“We are seeing unprecedented upstream growth in Guyana, major project development in Suriname and renewed momentum around regional gas and LNG integration in Trinidad and Tobago,” said James Chester, CEO of Energy Capital & Power, the event organizer. “Caribbean Energy Week 2027 is about connecting those opportunities – bringing together governments, operators and investors to unlock a truly integrated energy corridor that can compete on the global stage.”

The inaugural Caribbean Energy Week in 2026 laid a strong foundation, attracting more than 400 attendees and over 90 companies, alongside high-level ministers and industry leaders from across the region and beyond. Hosted in Paramaribo, the event facilitated critical dialogue on cooperation, investment and infrastructure, while also serving as a platform for deal-making and knowledge exchange.

Building on this momentum, CEW 2027 is set to expand in both scale and impact, offering a premier platform for strategic dialogue, project showcases and investment engagement. As global demand for diversified energy supply grows, the Caribbean is increasingly well-positioned to play a central role – one defined by collaboration, connectivity and opportunity.