Patrick Pouyanne, the Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, has explained the company’s decision to invest $6 billion in energy projects in Angola instead of Nigeria.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, Pouyanne attributed the shift to Nigeria’s inconsistent policymaking, contrasting it with Angola’s more stable policy environment.
He noted that while the Niger Delta is West Africa’s most productive region, the unpredictable policy landscape has made it difficult to invest there. Pouyanne also pointed out that TotalEnergies has not conducted oil exploration in the Niger Delta for the past 12 years.
Additionally, he highlighted insecurity and the lack of human capital as major challenges hindering investment in Nigeria.
“Nigeria loves to open topics without closing them. You love to debate. There is always a new legislature in Nigeria about a new petroleum law. When you have such permanent debates, it’s difficult for investors looking for long-term structure to know what direction to go.
“In reality, the Niger Delta is the most prolific part of West Africa. But if you look at what happened, because of these debates, there has not been a single exploration in Nigeria for 12 years.
“It’s important to have a debate and then settle it and put a framework on the table that investors can trust.
“We have countries that have perfectly integrated policies like Angola. So, we go to Angola and announced a very large $6 billion projects in the beginning of the week because there their framework is stable. So we know where we go,” Pouyanne said.