In late May we hosted our first Advisory Board meeting and exclusive networking event at the London Hilton on Park Lane. It was a welcomed occasion for us to host key partners and thought leaders for an afternoon of collaboration and dialogue, followed by a cocktail reception and a 3-course dinner at the Michelin star Galvin at Windows, overlooking the whole city.  

The purpose of the 2018 Advisory Board meeting was to discuss our focus and objectives, and validate the direction of Africa Oil Week as the leading business intelligence and transaction platform for the industry. The Africa Oil Week team and Advisory Board members are committed to curating a cutting-edge conference programme of B2B and B2G dialogue that will help drive the development of Africa’s oil and gas sector.

 

The meeting brought together over 30 CEOs and senior decision makers from IOCs, NOCs, Independents, Service Companies and Business Services from the oil & gas ecosystem, to collaborate and contribute to Africa Oil Week 2018 as a whole, through their collective experience and views. This included leaders from BP, Shell, Tullow, Impact Oil & Gas, Eco Oil & Gas, Deloitte, Herbert Smith Freehills and more. We then hosted 60 VIPs for an exclusive networking opportunity with key stakeholders in the evening, not to be missed!

The meeting, hosted by Paul Sinclair, Conference Director - Africa Oil Week and Eve Harper, Group Event Director – Africa Oil Week, and chaired by Rt. Honourable Mark Simmonds, Former Minister of Africa, United Kingdom, showcased overwhelming support from the industry on a number of initiatives. 

Highlights and outcomes from the meeting include:
 

- Extremely positive responses from industry representatives for the launch of our brand-new Prospect Forum; as a result of the meeting, all Prospect Forum sessions are now full
- Three think tanks that allowed members to share their thoughts and validate key topics from our content programme, specifically: Local Content, Mergers & Acquisition and Future Prospects.
Stay tuned for the release of the Africa Oil Week Programme shortly!
- Commitment from the Africa Oil Week team to maintain the core of our historical event: the plentiful networking and social aspects which will include a 25th Anniversary celebration 
- An expectation for Africa Oil Week to continue its move toward becoming even more of a transactional platform for the industry. On the back of the meeting, keep a look out for 2 bidding round announcements…
- A focus on ensuring the attendance of a diverse mix of governments through the successful introduction and execution of an exclusive Ministerial and VIP programme
- A clearly defined strategy to attract more finance houses with the capacity to take projects through to final investment

 

Cemented by the Advisory Board meeting and overall discussions from the evening, Africa Oil Week will drive dialogue and relationships to create a platform for:

 

- Transactions and Project Origination: Three days of prospect presentations from NOCs, Independents & geo-services which can be explored further in data viewing rooms
- Policy Reform: B2G dialogue to help create stronger policy roadmaps and blueprints to support the growth of frontier market governments. 
- FDI Capital Raising: A full content programme that encourages inflows of FDI into both sovereigns and private sector operations

As we look forward to 5-9 November in Cape Town, the team sincerely thanks all those who joined in helping us to continue shaping Africa Oil Week into a the premier thought leadership and deal making hub; and the annual focus point for the African Oil and Gas sector.