About Us

What we do

Serving the Interests of Industry and Members in the Upstream and Midstream Oil and Gas Sectors in Africa.

The South African Oil & Gas Alliance (SAOGA) is dedicated to promoting the upstream and midstream sectors of the oil and gas value chain, primarily in South Africa and regionally in Southern Africa.

The organisation operates as a partnership between the public and private sectors, receiving public funding to carry out a range of industry development activities and working to promote the interests of members. It is overseen by an independent volunteer Board of Directors from industry and a number of other key stakeholders.

Strategy

The market has changed substantially over the last years. The opportunities in a $100+ a barrel environment are very different to those in a lower price world. So we have remapped a future timeline and while some anticipate a price rise and global inventory reduction we see that the next building blocks for South Africa are: exploration activity Onshore (Karoo) and Offshore as well as the already announced LNG to Power importation opportunity. This gives us a clear and present opportunity to build a gas economy around certain events. SAOGA’s challenge now is to make this vision concrete, while repositioning for the upswing in rig and related work.

Our aim is to be the primary facilitator servicing the upstream and mid-stream sectors of the oil and gas value chain across Sub-Saharan Africa, attracting investment and developing capacity within the region to service and supply the oil and gas industry, for the benefit of all stakeholders and valued members.In parallel we aim to provide the Sub-Saharan oil and gas industry and our members with a comprehensive platform, driving growth of the oil and gas industry through skills development, local knowledge, geographic location and maximising government, institutional and private business resources.

History

SAOGA is an outgrowth of a provincial government sector development programme around the oil and gas industry in the Western Cape Province of South Africa (a region that includes Cape Town, Mossel Bay and Saldanha Bay). This programme was focused on a significant cluster of upstream supplier companies that developed in the province in response to upstream growth in West Africa and the the establishment of domestic production in Mossel Bay in the late 1980s.

An indepedent non-profit entity known as the Cape Oil and Gas Supply Initiative (COGSI) was established in 2003 to become the main vehicle for promoting and developing the sector. The Board subsequently renamed COGSI the South African Oil and Gas Alliance to reflect the growing involvement of upstream suppliers from other regions and the fact that no other South African organisation focuses on the upstream supplier base.

Today we have a national footprint and focus although the Western Cape remains the de facto centre of upstream supplier activity in South Africa.

Primary Activities

SAOGA's activities focus around 4 areas:

Marketing & Business Development: SAOGA seeks to help member companies grow business by raising the global profile of the South African industry through a range of activities which currently include: presence at conferences and trade exhibitions, participation in trade missions, publication of the South African Oil & Gas Directory and producing, gathering and disseminating market intelligence.

Creating an Attractive Business Environment: SAOGA actively works with government and parastatal entities to ensure that public policy and infrastructure supports a competitive environment for upstream and midstream suppliers. We actively sponsor initiatives to study and improve physical and regulatory infrastructure and will lobby directly on behalf of our members and their clients where necessary.

Industry Capability Development: SAOGA plays a key role in helping local companies to understand and attain the standards of performance and quality required to operate in the upstream and midstream industry; this is done through an extensive skills development programme, supplier development initiatives and networking activities to facilitate collaboration between companies.

Investment Promotion: Increasing the presence of foreign upstream and midstream companies in South Africa is a key priority for SAOGA. We are a primary point of contact for global firms considering establishing in South Africa or partnering with local firms and can provide a variety of information and introductions to prospective investors.
 

 

Our Team

Adrian Strydom

Adrian Strydom - Executive Director/CEO

Adrian is Chair of South African Presidential Phakisa work group on offshore skills and represents the South African Minister of Higher Education on the Northlink College Council.  He serves on the Advisory Board of SAIMI, based at Nelson Mandela University and was Programme Manager with SAOGA since 2009, where he headed up the Skills Development Division.

Prior to accepting the position with SAOGA, Adrian was Director of the Centre for Open Learning at the University of Cape Town where he also served on the UCT Senior Staff Management Group and Higher Education Development Committee.   He worked at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (previously Peninsula Technikon) for 17 years, where he was Director of the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE), Senior Lecturer and Lecturer respectively.  Adrian was employed in the FET College sector for several years, as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer and worked in the City Engineer’s Department of the City of Cape Town as a Professional Assistant.

Alain Kerr

Alain Kerr - Business Development & Marketing Executive

Alain Kerr, our new Business Development & Marketing Executive at SAOGA joined the team in July 2019. His focus is membership relations and to initiate, implement & manage the marketing of the SAOGA brand in doing so ultimately broadening the alliance footprint nationally in the Oil & Gas Industry in South Africa. He is responsible for keeping member companies abreast of relevant industry related topics and events in the sector.

Before starting at SAOGA in the Skills Development Department as a Coordinator in February 2017, Alain was a CBMT Lecturer at a TVET College in the Cape Town. He also comes from a technical background as a Qualified Fitter & Turner by trade, who worked in the Marine & Ship Repair sector for many years in Cape Town Harbour. He boasts experience in the corporate sector in sales and entrepreneurship as he had his own business for +/- 6years. Alain believes that SAOGA exists for its members and is keen to promote the sector and the members to ensure industry growth, in South Africa and Southern Africa at large.

Recruitment Notice

We’re aware that individuals have been posing as SAOGA HR personnel to try to defraud job seekers.

Please note our information will always come from “info@saoga.org.za”