From February 10 to 12, 2026, Lagos will once again host one of Africa’s most consequential gatherings of energy leaders, the 10th Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC). Organized by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), NNPC Ltd, and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the event is expected to draw delegates from over 30 national oil companies, regulators, and investors from across the continent.
The three-day forum will explore how Africa can align its oil and gas wealth with a rapidly changing global energy landscape, striking a balance between industrial growth, environmental responsibility, and local content advancement.
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For a continent whose economic structure is still largely fossil-fuel dependent, SAIPEC’s 10th anniversary is not merely ceremonial, it is reflective of an evolving narrative. When the event debuted in 2017 as the West Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (WAIPEC), it was a modest platform attended by 148 delegates and only two National Oil Companies (NOCs).
In less than a decade, it has expanded into a continental fixture, welcoming over 1,400 participants and 23 NOCs in 2025, with even higher engagement anticipated next year. Beyond numbers, this exponential growth mirrors the transformation of Africa’s energy discourse, from extraction and export to value addition, domestic utilization, and now, sustainability.
The African continent holds approximately 7.2 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and nearly 13 percent of its natural gas reserves. Nigeria alone sits atop 206 trillion cubic feet of gas, Angola and Mozambique are emerging as LNG exporters, while Senegal and Namibia are fast becoming frontier producers. Yet, over 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, and about 900 million rely on biomass for cooking, a stark contradiction between potential and reality. It is this paradox that SAIPEC seeks to address.
The 2026 programme places a deliberate emphasis on actionable frameworks rather than rhetoric. The opening plenary will dissect the regulatory and investment landscapes shaping Africa’s upstream and midstream growth.
Experts will examine how domestic reforms, such as Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Angola’s concession restructuring, and Ghana’s local content expansion, can collectively create a regional investment ecosystem rather than fragmented markets. These discussions are particularly timely given the recent slowdown in global fossil fuel investment, where Sub-Saharan Africa captured less than 4 percent of new upstream spending in 2024, compared to 12 percent a decade ago.
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A defining session of the conference will spotlight Africa’s gas opportunity, reframing natural gas not as a transitional fuel but as a developmental lever. With global LNG demand projected to grow by 25 percent by 2030, Africa’s gas-rich nations are positioning themselves to meet both export and domestic industrialization needs.
However, infrastructure remains the constraint. Nigeria’s gas flare reduction policies, Tanzania’s stalled pipeline projects, and Mozambique’s security-challenged LNG development all point to the same bottleneck, translating resources into inclusive growth. Industry leaders at SAIPEC will discuss how regional cooperation under frameworks like the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) can accelerate cross-border infrastructure and reduce project duplication.
One of the more progressive aspects of the 2026 edition is the integration of sustainability and local content into the mainstream energy conversation. PETAN has confirmed the introduction of an “African Content Pitching Session”, a platform for indigenous companies to showcase technologies and solutions tailored for African terrains. This is significant for a continent where foreign contractors still dominate upstream technical services, accounting for nearly 70 percent of project value in Nigeria and over 80 percent in Angola.
By strengthening local capacity, SAIPEC aims to shift the balance of economic benefit closer to home, ensuring that energy development becomes synonymous with community development.
Gender and youth inclusion are also prominent on the agenda. The “DEI Leadership Panel” will feature women and young professionals who are leading transformation within national energy companies and regulatory agencies. Across Africa, women constitute less than 20 percent of the oil and gas workforce, and youth unemployment stands at an average of 30 percent. The conference’s Futures Forum, designed to connect engineers, academics, and entrepreneurs, is thus a vital bridge between aspiration and opportunity, an acknowledgment that sustainability is not only environmental but also social and generational.
Beyond dialogue, the event’s economic ripple effects are tangible. Over the past decade, SAIPEC has been credited with facilitating millions of dollars in contracts and partnerships, many of which birthed local joint ventures and service alliances. These engagements have supported the growth of indigenous oilfield service providers and technology start-ups across West and Central Africa. For Lagos, the host city, SAIPEC represents not just a conference but an economic stimulus, generating hotel occupancy spikes and business networking opportunities that extend far beyond the convention halls.
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A day before the main conference, the NCDMB will host the AfCFTA Energy Summit, focusing on how intra-African trade agreements can unlock shared value across the energy chain. This conversation could not be more relevant: as the world races toward net-zero, Africa’s strategic response must be unified, leveraging shared markets to localize supply chains for critical energy infrastructure, from solar components to LNG modules.
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