AES26 Panel Recap: East Africa and Indian Ocean Margin’s Gas and Oil - Cooperating for National Value Creation

Geology was never the challenge across East Africa - but coordination is.

That was the takeaway from this panel, where regulators from Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia sat down with investor Liberty Petroleum to unpack what's holding back the region's oil and gas potential.

Fragmented fiscal regimes and inconsistent regulations were named as the real barriers - not a shortage of resources. But the panel pointed to real progress too: the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline linking Uganda to Tanzania, and the work of the Energy Regulators Association of East Africa which is harmonising standards and sharing data across borders.

And Somalia drew particular praise - TPAO went from picking up permits to drilling an ultra-deepwater well within months, a pace investors called almost unprecedented in the region.

Certainty, speed, predictable decision-making and genuine regulatory harmony were identified as the key enablers at AES '26, where we showcased Africa's upstream opportunities to a global audience.