Among those lending their support to the launch was Sebastião Gaspar Martins, Chairman and CEO of Sonangol Group, alongside senior industry figures including Sergio Pugliese, AEC Executive President, and Dr. Adilson Mangueira Nelumba, CEO of COPIA Group Companies.

The launch comes as Angola’s oil and gas sector enters a new phase of reform-driven investment and activity. Recent developments include the $5.1 billion Greater PAJ final investment decision in June and a significant oil and gas condensate discovery by Chevron offshore Block 0 in August, while national oil production has remained around the one-million-barrel-per-day mark through 2026.

Martins underscored the significance of Angola’s institutional reforms, particularly the transfer of the concessionaire role to the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG), which he described as “far more than an institutional reorganization.” The reform enabled Sonangol to progressively transition from an organization combining state responsibilities with commercial activities into a company increasingly focused on competing, operating, investing, innovating and creating value.

Martins also stressed that Angola’s resource wealth must be measured by what it enables the country to build. “Natural resources by themselves do not transform a nation. It is the institutions, the people, the decisions, and the capacity to convert those resources into value that truly transform a country,” Martins said.

For Ayuk, the story is ultimately one of a country that chose to confront the structural challenges facing its petroleum sector and reshape its trajectory from within.

“Most of the time when we talk about the oil industry in Africa, it’s bad news,” Ayuk said at the launch. “Angola has had a turnaround story. Angolans wrote that history – it’s Angolan ingenuity at its best.”

He singled out the creation of ANPG as one of the most consequential developments of the past decade, arguing that the institutional reform fundamentally changed the way Angola approached its petroleum industry.

“The only model of success for reform and transformation is leadership,” Ayuk said.

For Angola, the next chapter of that transformation is increasingly focused on converting petroleum production into broader economic value and building a competitive domestic energy-services industry.

“Production is the starting point, not the destination. We understand that real value begins when we manage to transform a produced barrel into investment, infrastructure, industry, knowledge, employment, and opportunities,” Martins said. “For us, local content cannot simply mean replacing a foreign company with an Angolan company. It must mean creating competitive Angolan companies capable of providing services in Angola today and competing across Africa tomorrow.”

Representing the private sector, Nelumba highlighted the gradual growth of Angolan participation in the oil and gas industry following the introduction of the country’s local-content framework.

“After the enactment of Law 271/20, local content in Angola – though timidly – grew to between 12% and 15% that already works directly with operators or International Oil Companies… The Government has drawn up the plan; now it is up to us to execute it,” Nelumba said.

Pugliese likewise highlighted the impact of Angola’s reforms, saying, “These have been reforms that have transformed our oil and gas industry, and attracted both confidence and investment into our industry.”

With major projects moving forward and the country seeking to deepen investment, local content and value creation across the energy chain, “Crude Oil: Power, Turnaround and Transformation in Angola” arrives at a pivotal moment – documenting not simply Angola’s petroleum history, but a continuing transformation that could offer lessons for resource-rich economies across Africa.

Crude Oil: Power, Turnaround and Transformation in Angola is now available for purchase. Buy the book on Amazon (https://apo-opa.co/4dmWN99)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, September 3, 2026/APO Group/ –Guyana is rapidly approaching one million barrels per day of oil production, but the country’s next wave of growth could be defined as much by what happens beyond the oil fields as by the continued expansion of offshore output. That was the message from senior government and industry leaders in Georgetown on Tuesday as Caribbean Energy Week (CEW) 2027 officially launched in-country, bringing investors and energy stakeholders together around Guyana’s expanding pipeline of opportunities.

Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat said Guyana’s production has surged from around 80,000 barrels per day in 2020 to more than 900,000 bpd, with the country on track to approach 1.7 million bpd by the end of the decade.

Bharrat highlighted exploration and the wider oil and gas value chain as major areas of opportunity, with Guyana’s local-content framework creating new avenues for international investors to partner with domestic companies. “You are in the right place, at the right time,” he told investors.

The government’s local-content drive is already reshaping that ecosystem. Nearly 1,300 companies are registered with the Local Content Secretariat and almost 7,000 Guyanese have been trained and certified to work directly in the oil and gas sector, Bharrat said.

“When we dropped that [Local Content Act], it was in no way meant to shut the door on foreign investment,” he said. “We have proven that the model can work, where we can have foreign investors partnering with our local private sector.”

For Guyana’s Chief Investment Officer Peter R. Ramsaroop, the opportunity now extends beyond hydrocarbons. The country is entering a period of transformation in which energy availability and cost could unlock new investment across manufacturing and other industries.

“Energy is economics. It’s not a commodity, it’s a variable,” Ramsaroop said, pointing to the expected impact of lower electricity costs as Guyana’s Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project comes online.

The approximately 300-MW project is designed to process natural gas from the offshore Stabroek Block for power generation while recovering natural gas liquids. Lindsayca Guyana Country Manager and Board Member Luis Pirela said the project is targeting power generation before the end of 2026.

“With GtE, our goal is to bring energy to Guyana in the shortest time possible,” Pirela said, adding that Lindsayca is now sourcing close to 70% of its materials locally.

The project illustrates the wider shift underway in Guyana, where the rapid expansion of oil production is generating demand for infrastructure, services, manufacturing and local businesses while creating new opportunities for international investors. That transformation is also increasingly regional in scope – a central focus of Caribbean Energy Week 2027.

“Looking around this room, the strength of our collective leadership is clear,” said Sandra Jeque, Vice President at Energy Capital & Power, organizers of CEW. “We are here today to lay the groundwork for what will be a landmark event for the region – Caribbean Energy Week 2027 – at a critical moment for the Caribbean’s energy future.”

With Guyana emerging as one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers, CEW 2027 will bring that momentum into a regional forum focused on investment, partnerships and the next chapter of the Caribbean’s energy economy.

Invictus holds an 80% interest across 360,000 hectares in the Cabora Bassa Basin, where its Mukuyu discovery has established a significant gas-condensate resource. The company estimates the project contains 4.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and 264 million barrels of condensate, positioning Cabora Bassa as a potential new source of domestic gas and power for Zimbabwe.

The company signed a petroleum production sharing agreement with the government of Zimbabwe in May this year, establishing the fiscal and commercial framework for future development. The agreement gives the state a 20% interest and incorporates the Mutapa Investment Fund, while providing a framework under which Zimbabwe can take its share through profits or physical gas volumes.

Invictus is now preparing for its next major exploration catalyst, with the Musuma-1 well scheduled to spud in November. The well will target an independent prospect on the eastern basin margin containing an unrisked gross mean prospective resource of 1.2 tcf of gas and 73 million barrels of condensate, potentially expanding the basin’s commercial footprint.

The company has also secured Exalo Drilling Rig 202 through a deed of variation with Exalo Drilling, while wellpad construction, civil works and rig preparations advance ahead of mobilization. Invictus also completed an approximately $7-million capital raising in July, strengthening its funding position for the upcoming drilling program and wider appraisal activity.

Alongside exploration, Invictus is developing an early gas-to-power commercialization pathway centered on Mukuyu. A pilot project with Dallaglio and Himoinsa is designed to generate an initial 12 MW for the Eureka Gold Mine, with potential expansion to 50 MW as gas production develops and additional industrial demand emerges.

The company is also pursuing broader gas monetization through an MoU with Mbuyu Energy, potentially supplying gas-to-power generation facilities connected to the Southern African Power Pool. Longer-term plans include regional pipeline infrastructure and modular LNG production, creating multiple routes for Cabora Bassa gas to reach Zimbabwean and regional energy markets.

“Invictus Energy represents the type of African-led resource development that AEW is designed to showcase, where exploration success is being matched by commercial planning, government alignment and investment,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber. “Its participation brings Zimbabwe’s emerging gas opportunity into direct conversation with investors, developers and energy companies from across the continent and beyond.”

Invictus’ Bronze Partnership gives AEW 2026 delegates direct engagement with an emerging African upstream developer advancing one of the continent’s most significant recent onshore gas discoveries. Its participation comes as Zimbabwe seeks to convert new hydrocarbon resources into domestic power generation, industrial growth and energy security, while attracting investment into an underexplored frontier basin.