The Corporate Council on Africa will host the “West Africa Oil & Gas Forum” in Houston, Texas from November 19-20. Africa’s Gulf of Guinea region has become vital to businesses in the U.S. petroleum industry. Production, new discoveries and exploration are growing at a fast pace. Currently, the region supplies almost 15 percent of U.S. energy needs and imports are expected to rise to nearly 25 percent by 2005. This timely forum will focus on oil & gas production and opportunities for the U.S. petroleum industry and related investors in African countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea. This region’s political climate will also be highlighted. The program is designed for a senior level audience composed of African petroleum ministries and national petroleum company representatives to meet with U.S. petroleum officials and U.S. government personnel administering African policy.

The following plenary sessions will take place: An overview of African energy infrastructure and economic development; U.S. government policy priorities for African petroleum; and risk management. Remaining sessions will include individual country workshops that will address petroleum and energy priorities; information on upcoming procurement and bloc biddings; and the regulatory environment.

The Corporate Council on Africa has invited representatives from the following countries:

Angola- H.E. Desidério Costa, Vice Minister of Petroleum, Republic of Angola CONFIRMED

Cameroon-H.E. Joseph Aoudouf, Minister of Mining

Chad-Mr. Ousmane Mahamat Nour Elimi, Minister of Petroleum; Mr. Tom Erdimi, National Petroleum Coordinator; Mr. Abdelkerim Hissein Moussa, Director of Oil Exploration & Production ALL CONFIRMED

Congo Republic-H.E. Tati Loutard, Ministry of Hydrocarbons, The Hon. Mr. Bruno Itoua, President, SNCP

Equatorial Guinea-H.E. Cristobal Manana Ela, Minister of Mines and Energy

Gabon-H.E. Richard Onouviet, Minister of Mines and Energy

Ghana-H.E. A. Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Energy

Nigeria-The Hon. Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman Special Presidential Advisor on Petroleum and Energy, The Hon. Gaius Jackson Obaseki, GMD, NNPC

Sao Tome & Principe-H.E. Rafael Branco, Minister of Natural Resources

This event is sponsored by ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and Vanco Energy. Promotional opportunities are still available. Please see the program agenda and registration form for more information.

Download AGOA Forum Brochure (1MB PDF)

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) mandates that a ministerial-level Forum and a parallel Private Sector Session be held every year between the U.S. and the 36 eligible beneficiary countries of Africa.

The Private Sector Session of the 2003 Forum will be comprised of an AGOA focused Trade Exhibition and workshops on commercially relevant topics. Workshops will cover such topics as: textiles and apparel; gifts and handicrafts; processed food; cut flowers and fresh produce; logistics, freeports and warehousing; and information technology.

Registration for the Forum is USD$500 and allows the participant to attend all the workshops, plenary sessions, the Trade Exhibition, lunches and receptions sponsored by the Private Sector Session of the Forum. The headquarters for the Private Sector Session of the Forum is the Radisson Hotel. The Radisson and other nearby hotels in Mauritius have reserved 500-600 rooms for registrants.

Exhibitors will be accepted from the 36 AGOA countries and the U.S. The charge for exhibits space is US$ 200 per m² and booths are multiples of 9m² or 12m². We expect over 100 African manufacturers and U.S. suppliers of materials used in these industries to participate in the exhibition.

For more information, contact Gloria Cabe at gcabe@africacncl.org or 1-(202)835-1115.

Check out these helpfull links to set up travel and hotel accomodations.