Slipping off the radar

Slow-moving legislation, political risks and the weak oil price have damaged West Africa as an investment destination. Senegal may be the exception

FOR THE first time since Tullow Oil's discovery of the Jubilee field in Ghana in 2007, West Africa's upstream has a new frontier play to get excited about, in the shape of multiple oil and gas finds in and around Senegal. But these cannot mask an otherwise gloomy regional picture. West African countries offering costly deep-water exploration and production opportunities, combined with an uncertain investment environment, are struggling to compete for a limited global pot of energy project funding. "It is a difficult investment environment, given low oil prices and the fact that international oil companies have a global asset footprint," says Rolake Akinkugbe, head of energy coverage at inves