NOG Spotlight Interviews: NOV's Arthur Ename On Technology, Local Content, Gas Development, And Africa's Next Energy Growth Cycle

NOG Spotlight Interviews: NOV’s Arthur Ename on Technology, Local Content, Gas Development, and Africa’s Next Energy Growth Cycle

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NOG Spotlight Interviews: NOV’s Arthur Ename on Technology, Local Content, Gas Development, and Africa’s Next Energy Growth Cycle

By Majorwaves Team

As Africa positions itself for a new era of energy investment driven by deepwater developments, gas monetization, digital transformation, and expanding indigenous participation, technology providers are becoming increasingly central to the continent’s industrial ambitions. With more than 160 years of engineering heritage and a growing commitment to African capacity development, NOV is redefining its role from equipment supplier to long-term technology and partnership enabler. In this exclusive interview with Majorwaves, Arthur Ename, Vice President, Business Development – Africa, discusses NOV’s strategy for supporting sustainable growth across the continent, the importance of embedding local content into business models, the opportunities created by Nigeria’s ongoing reforms, and how innovation, automation, and collaborative partnerships can help unlock Africa’s vast energy potential while advancing a pragmatic and inclusive energy future.

Q1. Top strategic priorities for expanding NOV’s footprint across Africa

Our priority is threefold: deepen our presence in established basins while positioning early in emerging gas and deepwater plays; build collaborative business models with national and local oilfield service companies so capacity building is embedded in how we operate, not layered on top of it; and forge long-term technology partnerships with NOCs, IOCs, and independents rather than transactional equipment sales.
We’re not just selling tools and equipment — we’re embedding NOV technology into the full lifecycle of African production, from drilling through completion, intervention, and production optimization, in partnership with local OFS companies who become genuine extensions of our delivery capability, not just intermediaries.
For us, local content is a business model, not a compliance line item. That means co-investing in local manufacturing, repair, and service capability, transferring technical know-how to national OFS partners, and structuring our contracts so African companies build equity — in skills, in capability, in market position — with every project we execute together.
Africa is one of the few regions globally where both greenfield deepwater FIDs and brownfield revitalization are happening simultaneously. Our strategy has to serve both — and it has to be delivered hand-in-hand with the local service ecosystem, because that’s what makes growth durable rather than dependent on us.

Q2. Adapting technology for Africa’s operational and cost realities

Africa’s energy sector doesn’t need scaled-down technology — it needs smartly-matched technology, deployed through commercial models that actually work for the companies operating here.
That means addressing three realities at once. First, drilling efficiency — automation through NOVOS, robotics, digitalization, and AI are directly translating into shorter drilling programs, reduced non-productive time, and safer operations, which matters enormously when every rig day carries real cost pressure.
Second, production infrastructure performance across the full lifecycle — from subsea flexible pipes and Zaplok technology compressing construction timelines on new developments and brownfields, to advanced mooring systems reducing OPEX and HSE exposure on producing assets, to process systems and fiberglass technologies extending the life of mature infrastructure, where incremental production from existing assets is often the fastest value available.
And third — the piece I’d underline most — capital access for local oilfield service companies, because none of this technology matters if our national and local partners can’t reach it.
That’s why we’ve moved beyond simply modularizing and right-sizing equipment. We’ve developed a new generation of commercial terms specifically for local operators and OFS companies — leasing structures, performance-based contracts, phased adoption pathways — built around their cash flow and growth trajectory, rather than frameworks designed for large multinational players.
The result is a complete answer, not a partial one: efficient drilling, resilient and longer-living production assets, and a realistic, sustainable path for African service companies to access world-class technology on their own terms. That, to me, is what responsible, durable growth in this industry looks like.

Q3. Partnerships with local operators and governments on local content

I’d like to reflect on the keynote address delivered by Her Excellency Nandi-Ndaitwah, President of the Republic of Namibia at NIEC2026. She captured something profound when she spoke of moving beyond ‘local content’ to ‘local upliftment’ — the idea that this industry’s true measure of success lies in whether it lifts people, institutions, and national capability, not merely local balance sheets. That is the standard we hold ourselves to at NOV.
This is not a regional talking point for us — it’s aligned with our global vision from headquarters. NOV’s strategy in Africa exists in service of a larger purpose: reducing energy poverty across the continent and enabling long-term energy security, built through genuine capacity building rather than dependency on imported capability.
Every major NOV engagement across Africa reflects that philosophy in practice — technology transfer, workforce training, and increasingly, co-investment in local manufacturing and service capability — so that upliftment is structural, not symbolic.
We work directly with regulatory bodies in every market where we operate, aligning our in-country participation with national development goals. And we work just as closely with independent operators and local oilfield service companies, helping them scale into full-spectrum service providers — companies capable of standing on their own, competing internationally, and outlasting any single project cycle.
Sustainable growth in Africa’s energy sector depends on building local champions, not simply supplying international ones. That is how oil and gas revenue becomes national upliftment — and that is the vision NOV is committed to advancing, basin by basin, partnership by partnership.

Q4. Balancing renewed oil and gas investment with energy transition over the next decade

At NOV, we view Africa’s energy trajectory through the lens of energy addition rather than energy transition. The continent’s priority is building baseload capacity to address energy poverty and support industrialization — including local mineral beneficiation and manufacturing growth — which requires all energy sources working together, not a sequential replacement of one for another.
Gas plays a foundational role in this equation. Gas-to-power and gas-to-industry development enable African economies to move beyond raw resource export toward local value creation and transformation.
Looking ahead, we expect the next decade to be defined by pragmatic, parallel development across energy sources — with each country calibrating its mix to its own resource base and industrialization goals. NOV’s role is to support that buildout with technology that makes hydrocarbon and gas development more efficient, reliable, and sustainable.

Q5. Biggest barriers to unlocking Africa’s energy potential, especially Nigeria

Across the continent, three barriers remain consistent: access to capital, regulatory and fiscal predictability, and infrastructure gaps — pipelines, power, and logistics.
Nigeria illustrates the progress possible when reform is sustained. The PIA laid the legislative foundation in 2021; upstream rig counts have since rebounded offshore and onshore, and Final Investment Decisions have exceeded $20 billion in CAPEX. More recent measures — including the Executive Order on Oil and Gas Investment, targeting capital inflows, and the Upstream Petroleum Operations Cost Efficiency Incentives Order, offering tax credits of up to 20% — have reinforced that momentum. The direction is encouraging; what matters now is consistency of execution through the ongoing PIA review process.

Where the greater opportunity lies — addressing the structural gaps:

Infrastructure — the most consequential barrier. Africa continues to flare, strand, or under-monetize vast volumes of gas and crude simply because gathering systems, pipelines, and power evacuation infrastructure aren’t in place. Closing this gap unlocks domestic gas-to-power, feedstock for fertilizer and petrochemicals, and reliable electricity for industrial zones.
Reducing market fragmentation — harmonizing regulatory frameworks and building interconnected pipeline and power grids, following the model of the West African Gas Pipeline, would let capital, equipment, and expertise move across borders more efficiently and let African markets achieve the scale that attracts long-term investment.
Building sustainable domestic demand — the next phase of growth has to be about gas-to-power for domestic grids, gas-to-industry for fertilizer and manufacturing, and feedstock for mineral beneficiation — creating a domestic customer base insulated from global price cycles.
Industry players have a role to play by co-investing in infrastructure, transferring technology and skills to local companies, and engaging constructively with regulators through the reform process.

Q6. The role of technology providers in a just energy transition

If I had to describe NOV’s position in Africa’s energy transition in one phrase, it would be this: globally established, locally rooted. NOV traces its roots back to 1862, and today our footprint spans the entire value chain — drilling, well construction, production, and midstream. Very few companies can say they’ve engineered solutions across every stage of a field’s life.
A responsible technology provider doesn’t showcase future concepts and call it progress; it makes the transition affordable and achievable today. For us, that means gas monetization technology, emissions reduction on existing production, and equipment efficiency across drilling, completions, and production — real, deployable solutions, not distant pilots.
It also means brownfield rejuvenation and asset life extension, one of the most underappreciated levers Africa has for sustainable production growth. Many of the continent’s mature basins — Nigeria and Angola among them — still hold significant value in existing infrastructure. NOV’s process systems, fiberglass technologies, and intervention capabilities allow operators to extend the productive life of what’s already installed, often the fastest, lowest-carbon, most capital-efficient path to incremental production.
A just transition for Africa means transition on African terms and timelines. Representing NOV’s Africa business as an African leader carries a particular responsibility — I sit at the intersection of a 160-year-old global technology company and the realities of the markets I was raised in and know intimately. Concretely, that means adapting our global technology roadmap and business model to African conditions, accelerating local capacity building, and building the trust-based relationships with African governments, NOCs, and independents that real partnerships require.
NOV brings the technology and the expertise. My role — and the role of leaders like me across this continent — is to make sure that legacy translates into local impact: cleaner, safer, more efficient production, real capability transfer to African service companies, and an energy transition that unfolds on a timeline that serves Africa’s own ambitions.

Q7. Assessing Nigeria’s reforms and what strengthens investor confidence further

Sustained implementation of the PIA, together with the Executive Order on Oil and Gas Investment and the Upstream Cost Efficiency Incentives Order, has genuinely shifted sentiment.
What would strengthen confidence further: faster contract cycle times, continued predictability in local content compliance costs, and clear, stable fiscal terms for gas development specifically, since gas is where much of Nigeria’s next investment wave will come from.
Investors don’t need perfect conditions — they need consistency. Nigeria’s direction of travel is positive; sustaining it through the ongoing PIA review is what will unlock the next tier of capital.

Q8. Digitalization, automation, and data analytics for African operators

Digital technology functions as a genuine force multiplier for African operators, who often manage complex assets with leaner teams and across greater logistical distances than their global peers. Remote monitoring, automated drilling systems, and predictive maintenance meaningfully reduce both operating cost and safety exposure.
Our focus is helping operators shift from reactive to predictive operations. By combining automation, robotics, data analytics, and AI, we enable teams to anticipate equipment issues before they translate into costly non-productive time, and to make better-informed decisions in real time during well construction and drilling — particularly valuable in high-logistics-cost environments like deepwater West Africa.
Critically, digitalization also lets us tap into specialized resources and skills that aren’t always available locally and deploy them in support of African operations without requiring physical presence on site. Remote operations centers and connected data platforms mean a specialist anywhere in NOV’s global network can support drilling decisions or diagnose equipment performance in real time on an asset in Nigeria, Angola, or Central Africa.
Digitalization also closes the experience gap for growing local service companies, giving newer teams access to the same operational intelligence and decision-support tools used by established global operators — accelerating their technical maturity.
In short, digital technology is an equalizer. It gives African operators and local service companies world-class analytical capability regardless of team size or location, while giving the broader industry a bridge to specialized global expertise exactly when and where it’s needed on the continent.

Q9. Gas as a foundational fuel and monetizing Africa’s gas reserves

Africa holds some of the world’s largest underdeveloped gas reserves, and gas is the logical foundation for the continent’s power generation, industrialization, and export value — not a fuel to transition through, but one to build on.
The real opportunity lies in monetization pathways — domestic gas-to-power, gas-to-industry corridors emerging in West Africa, and FLNG for reserves too remote or marginal for conventional pipeline infrastructure. Unlocking these pathways depends heavily on reliable offshore production infrastructure.
This is where NOV’s Offshore Production Package becomes directly relevant. It brings together the mooring systems that keep FPSOs and FLNG units safely on station in demanding offshore environments, the topside process packages that treat and condition gas for power, export, or liquefaction, and the subsea infrastructure that gathers hydrocarbons from the reservoir to the surface facility — delivered as one integrated offering.
But the real value often gets decided long before first steel is cut. That’s why we prioritize early engagement with operators during concept select and FEED studies, working collaboratively to evaluate mooring configurations, topside footprint, and subsea tie-back options against each project’s reservoir characteristics, water depth, and cost envelope.
Where scope allows, elements of this equipment — from mooring components to sections of the topside process package — can be manufactured locally or in-country rather than exclusively imported. That’s a meaningful lever for local content: it builds fabrication capability, creates skilled jobs, and keeps a greater share of project value within the host economy.
That combination — early collaboration on the right technical solution, plus in-country manufacturing where feasible — is what lowers the capital threshold for developing stranded or marginal gas fields, turning previously uneconomic resources into commercially viable, locally-anchored projects.

Q10. Outlook for Africa’s energy sector over the next 5–10 years, and NOV’s role

I expect Africa to be one of the most active energy investment regions globally over the next decade — driven by deepwater FIDs, a gas development wave, and a new generation of capable indigenous operators and service companies.
NOV’s role is to be the technology and capability partner that grows with African industry — from IOCs and NOCs to the independents and local OFS companies that will define the next chapter of the continent’s energy sector.

Our ambition is straightforward: help Africa produce its own energy more efficiently, more safely, and more sustainably, while building the local technical capacity that ensures the benefits of that production stay on the continent.