Africa Oil Week (Africa-OilWeek.com), the leading international oil and gas event set to take place in Cape Town, South Africa on the 5 – 9 November 2018, will build on 25 years of success by adding a host of sessions and initiatives to their conference programme tailored towards driving transactions, deal-making and new partnerships.

Brand new for 2018 is the AOW Prospect Forum, held in partnership with AAPG and open to ICE delegates, where National Oil Companies, Independents and Geo-service Companies will take to the stage to showcase open acreage, broker farm-out opportunities and present data viewings.

Alongside the Prospect Forum, AOW’s Seminar Theatre will also feature varied content across the week. Ministers and CEOs of state owned enterprises from countries including: Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Madagascar and Uganda will be hosting exclusive roadshows and bidding rounds highlighting licensing and investment opportunities to global operators and investors.

The African Local Content Forum, held in partnership with the Nigeria Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and sponsored by Shell, will host case studies and dedicated panel discussions on three key aspects of Local Content: Workforce Development, Policy and Private Sector on Wednesday 7 November.

This year’s event will showcase the AOWomen Initiative, which is designed to mainstream women in energy, develop blueprints for capacity building and gender equality to ensure women have a presence and a voice in shaping energy policy across Africa. The AOWomen Initiative will kick off with an exclusive breakfast briefing sponsored by Noble Energy on Thursday 8 November. Speakers will include Pam Darwin, Vice President – Africa of ExxonMobil and Mahawa Kaba-Wheeler, Director for Women, Gender & Development at the Africa Union.

AOW will also see the launch of the Student Programme and Future Leaders Initiative. New for 2018, the Future Leaders Initiative offers a half-price ticket to those getting started in the industry, providing a key opportunity for the leaders of tomorrow to network with peers and keep up to date with latest industry trends. The Student programme will draw over 100 final-year students from leading pan-continental institutions including the University of Cape Town and the University of Namibia, with the aim to inspire a new wave of talent. The programme grants students access to two days of content at AOW, including two dedicated sessions on capacity development led by Lindiwe Mekwe, CEO of Petroleum Agency South Africa, and Heads of Talent from leading industry organisations.

As Africa Oil Week shifts its focus towards becoming a deal brokering, finance and FID centred  platform, it becomes a must attend business development event like no other in the industry. The Summit will also host a live panel broadcast on CNBC Africa on the morning of Thursday 8 November surrounding future funding models in the African energy sector. This session will cover topics such as global funding, M&A in the African upstream and funding strategies, presented by expert panellists including: Solomon Asamoah, CEO, Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund, Paul McDade, CEO, Tullow Oil and Somit Varma, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus LLC. Directly following the CNBC panel will be three dedicated breakout sessions focusing on the role of global finance in the African upstream and how to drive transactions. These sessions will be moderated by leading industry figures from Latham & Watkins and Deloitte.

With an expected audience of 1,300 attendees from over 70 countries, the 2018 Africa Oil Week has truly evolved into the only true go-to event for the African hydrocarbon sector.