Significantly lower crude oil prices have reduced foreign companies’ interest in developing oil and gas resources in sub-Saharan Africa nations, speakers at a Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies seminar agreed. Lower prices also could give governments some time to develop better frameworks so economic and social benefits reach their countries’ general populations, they added.

Africa oil industry refocuses priorities as price falls and setbacks bedevil groups

South African President Jacob Zuma outlined ambitious plans on Wednesday for oil andgas exploration in coastal waters that he said could contain as much as 9 billion barrels of crude and vast quantities of natural gas.

Increasing access to modern forms of energy is crucial to unlocking faster economic and social development in sub‑Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook, a Special Report in the 2014 World Energy Outlook series.

Chad expects to double oil production by the end of 2015 as new fields come on stream and has appointed firms to inventory potential mineral deposits in an effort to diversify the economy, its finance minister said.

Battle for oil in ‘Africa’s last colony’

African Petroleum Seeks West Africa Partners

Glencore’s oil production surges by 46%

Sasol, Eni plan Mozambique gas study

Rothschild fund turns focus to Africa