JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 17, 2024 -- The African Energy Chamber (AEC) (www.EnergyChamber.org) – the voice of the African energy sector – has broadened its legal action against international events organizers Hyve Group and Africa Oil Week (AOW) by filing an application to include events management group Sankofa Events and its Director Paul Sinclair. The decision to include Sinclair and Sankofa Events comes in response to the acquisition of AOW by the London-based start-up earlier this month. 

The AEC initially sued Hyve Group over allegations of misrepresentation, false marketing and unlawful competition – actions that the Chamber believes have caused significant damage to the African energy sector. The AEC is claiming $5 million for the damages caused by Hyve Group and Sankofa Events' unfair industry practices. Hyve Group has previously demonstrated a lack of commitment to advancing Africa's energy sector, as shown by its decision to move AOW to Dubai in 2020, sidelining key African developments and stakeholders in the process. As a proud advocate of African energy development, the AEC received unmitigated support for its stand against Hyve Group – which went on to lose key sponsors, partners and 70% or more of African ministers and national oil companies from their events. They panicked and in trying to recover in the following years, they decided to mislead everyone by attempting to harm and derail AEC's efforts to making African energy poverty history through maximized cooperation between African energy leaders, stakeholders and international partners.

The AEC continues to advocate for transparency, fairness and the long-term growth of Africa’s energy industry, ensuring that the sector remains competitive and that its benefits are maximized for African stakeholders. As such, the AEC will continue to seek justice for the African energy industry and all Africans fighting energy poverty and we look forward to continue serving in our capacity as the African continent’s premier representative of energy development. 

The AEC will continue to deliver on its promise to make energy poverty history by 2030 during this year’s edition of the African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energy (https://apo-opa.co/47BMw56) conference, which will return to Cape Town and lead the continent’s energy matters and prioritize Africa-led dialogue and decision making. Taking place from November 4-8, AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 represents the only conference on the continent that serves the entire energy value chain, from oil and gas to refining and petrochemicals, renewable energy and to mining and infrastructure. 

“As the voice of the African energy sector, we will continue to fight against all injustices from within the industry. We are a strong proponent of Africa and her people and we will continue raising this issue to achieve the goal of facilitating an electrified and industrialized economy across the entire continent. Our aim is to address injustice, complacency and misinformation and with this lawsuit, we aim to shift Africa’s narrative back to the continent itself in order to deliver on our promise to eradicate energy poverty within this decade,” states AEC Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk. 

"We have all heard and seen false advertisements announcing too good to be true speakers by Paul Sinclair, Hyve and Africa Oil Week, announcing speakers that didn't confirm and making outlandish claims. If they are going to advertise speakers in a conference and publish numbers, their statements better be true. In this case, they made statements that were blatantly false, and we have an obligation to hold them accountable for lying for financial gain,” said NJ Ayuk. “Misleading the oil and gas industry is not right at a time when we need to stick together to encourage more drilling for energy all over Africa despite stiff opposition from radical climate activist," added Ayuk 

"As the voice of the African Energy industry, we are committed to enforcing decency in the sector and get rid of these bad actors that make the oil industry look bad. We hope Paul Sinclair, Hyve and Africa Oil Week behave properly while we await the outcome of this litigation," concluded Ayuk 

AOW claims to heed Africa’s interests but has fundamentally and continually contradicted this. Their crusade against oil and gas development is particularly harmful given that Africa has some of the largest hydrocarbon resources globally and is entering a new era of energy development. In this regard, AOW continues to overlook the severity of energy poverty in Africa, where six hundred million people on the continent do not have access to electricity.