TotalEnergies, one of the world’s leading firms for energy, has chosen Angola over Nigeria to site its $6 billion energy project.
Giving the reasons for the diversion of the project from Nigeria, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, cited inconsistency in policymaking decisions as one of the major reasons.
The TotalEnergies CEO stated this while speaking with panellists of the Africa CEO in Kigali, Rwanda, adding that Angola is a country with a more stable policy framework, which he said every business concern would first consider before starting investment.
According to SaharaReporters, Pouyanne said the Niger Delta is the most productive region in West Africa, noting that the erratic policy environment has made investment untenable.
“TotalEnergies has not conducted oil exploration in the region for 12 years,” Pouyanne revealed, adding that “Nigeria loves to open topics without closing them”.
READ ALSO: EFCC arrests 101 suspected Yahoo Boys in Enugu, Imo, Kaduna
He further stated, “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.”
He added, “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 project at the beginning of the week because there their framework is stable. So we know where we go,” Pouyanne said.
Insecurity, lack of talent stifling investment, in addition, Pouyanne said that insecurity and the lack of human capital are two of the main issues facing investment in the country.