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While there is still much more exploration work to be done, Kenya’s discovery of oil is important for more than just national pride. The find, announced in April by Block 10BB operator Tullow Oil, is a significant stabilising factor for regional development as it enables the East African Community (EAC)’s main economic and political power to take a seat at the table alongside its hitherto luckier neighbours.

African leaders, backed by key donors, earlier this year approved another initiative to increase electricity generation and access across the continent; and multilateral and government officials have since been working to put flesh on the bones of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). Jointly developed by the African Union (AU), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) and African Development Bank to map out an energy infrastructure development programme in the period to 2040, PIDA promises much – and its ambitious goals are to be welcomed. “The programme aims for achieving energy accessibility of all the African population of not less than 60% by 2040. This requires annual growth of the energy sector by 6.2% and an annual investment of $40.5bn,” a recent PIDA document says.

Now West Africa’s second biggest economy after Nigeria, Ghana is in a strong position to benefit from the region’s new oil boom. So far, Ghana has the advantage over its neighbours in terms of discoveries, with production from the Jubilee field, further finds in development, and more exploration under way. While the oil has been flowing for more than a year, gas development is lagging badly behind, but with elections due in December, opposition presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo has a clear vision for the kind of economic development he wants from Ghana’s oil revenue. He sees potential to turn Ghana into a regional manufacturing hub.

With North Africa in turmoil, the attention of many international oil companies (IOCs) has swung towards the Eastern Mediterranean – an area not unknown for intractable political conflict and instability.

The latest development in the campaign to get Ghana and its oil industry partners to disclose details of their contracts illustrates just how haphazard the process can be. As a part of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) filing by Kosmos Energy with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), all of the petroleum agreements related to the Jubilee field are now available at the SEC website