Heirs Energies will take centre stage at Africa Energy Week 2025 in Cape Town next week (29 September – 3 October), where the Nigerian-owned company plans to showcase how indigenous operators can transform Africa’s energy landscape. Represented by CEO Osa Igiehon and Executive Director/CFO Sam Nwanze, the firm will join policymakers, investors, and industry leaders in debates on mature oil fields, asset divestments, and financing models that could reshape the continent’s upstream sector.
Igiehon will speak in high-level sessions on Africa’s mature basins and investment opportunities in the Republic of Congo. Drawing on the company’s turnaround of OML 17 in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, he will argue that African independents can create value from assets long dismissed as unviable. “The OML 17 turnaround shows that with the right governance, innovation, and local execution, indigenous operators can unlock value where others saw decline,” Igiehon noted ahead of the summit.
CFO Sam Nwanze will add a financing perspective. On a panel exploring asset divestments in Africa’s upstream sector, he will spotlight Heirs Energies’ Africapitalism philosophy, an approach that links commercial success with community impact. Nwanze insists credibility is central: “The divestment wave creates opportunities for African players to lead, but success depends on structuring investable projects, building trust with partners, and embedding impact into every deal.”
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Heirs Energies’ participation embodies the Afri-capitalism vision promoted by its parent company, Heirs Holdings, under Chairman Tony O. Elumelu. The model challenges the long-standing perception that Africa must rely on foreign capital and technical expertise to drive its energy industries. Instead, it positions African firms as capable leaders who can meet international operational standards while aligning profits with broader social and economic outcomes. The firm points to OML 17 as proof of concept. Within 100 days of taking operatorship, Heirs Energies doubled production, while channeling gas supplies directly into Nigerian homes and industries. That focus on monetizing gas aligns with wider debates about the role of natural gas as a “transition fuel” for Africa, lowering emissions by displacing diesel and firewood, while buying time for renewables to scale.
Africa Energy Week 2025 comes at a critical juncture. Nearly 600 million people on the continent still lack access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), even as global pressure mounts for Africa to accelerate its energy transition. Oil and gas revenues remain vital to public finances in countries like Nigeria, Angola, and Congo, yet investment in fossil fuels is becoming harder to secure as international financiers tighten environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.
This context explains why indigenous ownership is rising. With majors divesting, African independents are increasingly stepping in. In Nigeria, firms such as Seplat Energy and Heirs Energies have taken control of onshore and shallow-water assets, while in Angola, local companies are expanding their share of upstream operations. The logic is straightforward: homegrown firms often have a stronger social license to operate, better knowledge of local dynamics, and a longer-term stake in national development.
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Without robust governance, divestments could reproduce old patterns of mismanagement and environmental harm. Observers warn that weak regulation in conflict-prone or resource-rich regions could undermine the very community benefits indigenous ownership is supposed to deliver. Here, frameworks like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and stronger domestic oversight will be critical to building investor trust and public accountability.
The Heirs Energies story also intersects with broader sustainability debates on the continent. Earlier this month, the African Union announced plans to establish a coalition of mineral-producing nations under its African Green Minerals Strategy. The aim is to strengthen Africa’s bargaining power in global supply chains for critical minerals that underpin electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable infrastructure. Together with the rise of indigenous energy companies, these moves signal a growing determination for Africa to set its own terms in the global transition.
At the same time, humanitarian actors like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are warning of the urgent need for climate-smart investment in fragile, conflict-affected states. In its 2025 special appeal, the ICRC highlighted that nearly half of the world’s 122 million displaced people live in regions facing both conflict and severe climate hazards. The juxtaposition is stark: while African firms are negotiating divestments and investment pipelines, millions remain at risk without reliable energy, infrastructure, or climate resilience measures.
For Heirs Energies, Africa Energy Week offers a platform to argue that indigenous ownership is not only viable but necessary for sustainable development. Its executives will frame OML 17 as more than an operational success, as evidence that when local firms take control, they can redirect revenues toward national priorities, from electrification to industrialization. The company’s future ambitions remain expansive. It has pledged to continue investing in gas-to-power infrastructure, explore regional opportunities beyond Nigeria, and strengthen community impact programs that link energy access with livelihoods. Whether it can sustain that balance between profitability, sustainability, and accountability will determine if Afri-capitalism can serve as a credible model for Africa’s broader energy future.
The continent must find ways to develop hydrocarbons responsibly, scale renewables rapidly, and secure investment flows that meet both climate and development needs. At Africa Energy Week 2025, Heirs Energies will be making the case that indigenous operators are central to meeting that challenge, and that the path to Africa’s energy future must be built from within.
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