Against this backdrop, SNPC Director General Maixent Raoul Ominga has been confirmed as a speaker at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, taking place in Cape Town from October 12–16. His participation comes at a pivotal moment for Congo’s hydrocarbons sector as SNPC advances major gas monetization projects, upstream expansion plans and corporate restructuring aimed at attracting international capital and strategic partnerships.

Under Ominga’s leadership, SNPC has accelerated its transformation from a passive state asset holder into a more operationally focused national oil company. A late-2025 presidential decree expanded and consolidated SNPC’s strategic role within Congo’s energy sector. The company has also launched a five-year digital modernization program designed to improve transparency, auditing and financial oversight.

Operationally, SNPC is expanding aggressively across both upstream oil and gas developments. The company launched a $158 million drilling bond to support onshore campaigns and has assumed operatorship of strategic assets including the Kouakouala field. Ongoing investments across the Nanga I, Zingali II and Le Mayombe II permits are expected to support production growth while helping offset declines at major fields.

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Gas monetization remains central to SNPC’s long-term strategy, with Congo LNG delivering its first export cargo to Italy through the Tango FLNG facility. Meanwhile a second FLNG unit is under development to raise national LNG capacity to around 3 million tons per annum. At Banga Kayo, SNPC and partner Wing Wah are advancing flare-reduction projects that convert associated gas into LPG, propane and butane for domestic markets.

The company is also strengthening offshore partnerships to unlock new reserves. Recent agreements with TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy on the Enzombo deepwater block aim to expand exploration activity offshore Pointe-Noire. Separately, TotalEnergies recently confirmed a hydrocarbon discovery at the Moho license, where recoverable resources across the Moho G and Moho F structures are estimated at close to 100 million barrels.

“Ominga’s participation at African Energy Week 2026 comes at a defining moment for Congo’s energy sector as SNPC accelerates its transformation into a stronger, more operationally driven national oil company. AEW will provide a critical platform for SNPC to engage directly with investors, operators and policymakers on the next phase of Congo’s growth strategy,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, AEC.

SNPC is targeting longer-term production growth toward 500,000 barrels per day while pursuing new licensing rounds, refinery modernization through its SOCAR partnership and additional FLNG developments designed to position Congo among Africa’s premier gas economies.

Nigerian oil and gas company Petroli Energy will participate as a Silver Sponsor at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, scheduled for October 12–16 in Cape Town. Their sponsorship underscores the firm’s expanding regional footprint across upstream exploration, trading and transitional energy services, alongside growing engagement with African investment platforms in line with its long-term growth strategy.

AEW 2026 is Africa’s premier upstream investment platform, convening policymakers, operators and financiers to accelerate oil, gas and power development across the continent. The 2026 edition is set to delve deep into gas-to-power expansion, data infrastructure energy demand and transaction-oriented dealmaking, positioning Cape Town as a key hub for energy capital flows.

Petroli Energy is currently advancing its upstream strategy amid accelerating divestments by international oil companies across West Africa, with independents capturing mature onshore assets and production gaps. The company is scaling joint operations and deploying geophysical technologies to reduce exploration risk while strengthening regional supply resilience in structurally underinvested markets.

In December 2024, Petroli Energy completed contracting for its PPL 269 license following its December 2024 bid win under the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s licensing round. The block, secured after competitive bidding against oil and gas explorer Afagaf Company, is now entering seismic interpretation and early-stage technical development phases.

Through its international trading arm, Petroli Energy (BVI), and a strategic partnership with the Emirates National Oil Company, the group maintains a ship-to-ship logistics network across the Gulf of Guinea. This infrastructure supports large-scale distribution of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and LPG, reinforcing its downstream trading and storage capabilities.

“Participation at African Energy Week 2026 is where capital meets opportunity across Africa’s energy future. Companies like Petroli Energy are essential in turning licensing rounds into real production and real infrastructure. Their presence signals confidence in African-led development and the continent’s ability to monetize its resources responsibly,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber.

Looking ahead, Petroli Energy is prioritizing natural gas and LPG as transitional fuels to support industrial demand across sub-Saharan Africa while preparing for longer-term integration into cleaner energy systems. The company is also evaluating regional expansion opportunities tied to infrastructure development, including pipelines, ports and cross-border energy corridors over the coming years.

Nigeria’s energy sector has recorded one of its strongest investment cycles in a decade, driven by regulatory reforms under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), improved fiscal incentives and renewed confidence from international oil companies (IOCs) and indigenous operators.

In 2025 alone, Nigeria approved 28 new Field Development Plans valued at $18.2 billion, unlocking an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, according to government disclosures. These approvals mark a decisive shift toward accelerating project execution timelines and reversing years of stalled upstream development.

Lokpobiri has consistently credited this momentum to reforms under the PIA, alongside faster licensing processes and investment-friendly fiscal adjustments. Speaking in Abuja earlier this year, he noted that Nigeria secured four of seven major Final Investment Decisions in Africa between 2024 and 2025, positioning the country as a leading upstream investment hub on the continent.

A central pillar of this resurgence is Shell’s Bonga deepwater complex, where the company has taken a $5 billion final investment decision on the Bonga North project, a subsea tie-back expected to add over 300 million barrels of recoverable resources and significantly boost long-term output from the FPSO hub. The development is widely viewed as a benchmark for Nigeria’s renewed deepwater competitiveness.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil’s planned investment in the Usan deepwater oil field is expected to inject up to $1.5 billion between 2025 and 2027, supporting production revitalization through new drilling and infrastructure upgrades.

Alongside IOC-led expansion, Nigeria’s indigenous producers are increasingly central to near-term output growth, with Heirs Energies targeting up to 100,000 barrels per day as it ramps up development across its onshore Niger Delta portfolio, including OML 17. This momentum is complemented by Seplat Energy’s optimization of its expanded onshore portfolio following the ExxonMobil acquisition, reinforcing the growing role of local operators in stabilising production and driving Nigeria’s short-term output gains.

Lokpobiri is also expected to highlight Nigeria’s broader energy transition framework at AEW 2026, which seeks to balance oil production growth with gas monetization, domestic refining expansion and increased local content participation. His policy messaging has consistently emphasized that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is structured to accommodate both IOCs and a growing base of indigenous operators.

“Nigeria is once again proving what is possible when policy meets execution,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. “Under leaders like Heineken Lokpobiri, we are seeing renewed seriousness about production, investment and getting projects across the line – from deepwater developments to indigenous-led growth. This is exactly the kind of momentum Africa needs: not promises, but barrels, projects, and bankable deals.”

As AEW 2026 prepares to convene policymakers, investors, and operators from across Africa and beyond, Lokpobiri’s address is expected to serve as one of the defining policy moments of the conference – spotlighting Nigeria’s resurgence at the center of Africa’s upstream growth story and its ambition to convert recent investment momentum into sustained production gains.