By Johnny Coomansingh
“This honour means more to me than words can properly express,” said Anthony E. Paul, winner of the African Energy Leadership Excellence Award at the ninth Ghana Energy Awards (GEA), 2025. Tony, as he is fondly called, added: “The GEA has been held since 2017 and recognises excellence, innovation, and impactful contributions within Ghana’s energy sector.” He said that what makes his award so extraordinary, and which made it such a surprise to him, is that it was in recognition of his work, not just in Ghana, but across the African continent. Congratulations!
His African destiny began in 1989, when he was selected by the ministry of energy to represent Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) at a forum in Oslo, Norway, hosted by the United Nations and the Norwegian government. This was a time of depressed oil prices. Major international oil companies came to the conclusion that they would have to find “elephants” for exploration to be commercially successful. So, they were venturing into new countries.
The purpose of this week-long gathering of developing countries with mature industries and new entrants was a way to share experiences. Having had the privilege to share T&T’s history, legal, regulatory and fiscal regimes, he remembered distinctly sitting over a meal with industry leaders from three African countries, and them joking that whenever they found oil, they would come to T&T for advice and support.
Having worked with the ministry of energy, Trintopec, Petrotrin, Amoco, and BP, for 25 years, he came to realise the big gap between country and international companies in understanding the value generated by oil and gas. In 2003, he chose to go into consulting, driven by a desire to reduce the imbalance between the two. Some colleagues with whom he had worked in BP’s Digital Business Strategy team in London, invited him to share his experiences at two renowned think-tanks (Wilton Park and Chatham House) in London in 2005. Those events exposed him to some major international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), aid agencies and multilateral agencies.
In 2007, he was approached by an NGO from the US, which had been asked by the President of Tanzania for help in developing their fiscal regime for natural gas. They had arranged meetings with the revenue authority and ministry in Dar-es-Salaam. He was asked whether he knew anyone in Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), the National Oil Company (NOC), and remembered that one of the three gentlemen at that table in Oslo was the chief executive officer of TPDC and had given a moving speech of appreciation on behalf of the delegates. Unfortunately, this was 18 years later, and there was no easy communication back in those days, so he had lost not only contacts, but even the names.
When Tony told his mother that he was about to go to Africa, he could have seen the tears welling up in her eyes. They were tears of joy, of achievement, of fulfilment. He saw the same reaction from his aunts and the older women of African descent in the family when he mentioned that odyssey. He knew they were carrying the dreams of their ancestors. To them, this was a sacred pilgrimage they had yearned to make themselves, and here was one of their own making it.
Heading out to Dar-es-Salaam, Tony had missed his connecting flights and had to travel a day later because of computer glitches at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport in New York. When he boarded in Amsterdam for the flight to Dar-es-Salaam, a very dignified gentleman sat next to him. The gentleman told Tony that he was the minister of the environment, and a chat began. Tony mentioned to the minister about the individual from TPDC whom he had met in Oslo, and of the speech that he made back then. Tony asked if he would know by chance how he might find that person. The minister looked him in the eye, smiled, and softly said: “That was me.”
This was destiny. That was to be the first of many of his trips to Africa. In February 2008, Tony made his second visit to Africa. In Dakar, Senegal, he made it his duty to visit Goree Island, an incredibly significant slave port. Since then, he has been to slave trading posts in Ghana (ElMina Castle), Badagri on the Nigeria/Benin border and Bagamayo in Tanzania.
In Dakar, he met three Ghanaians who became lifelong friends. He sat on a panel with two of them and Sir Paul Collier, the renowned development economist. Along with Sir Collier, Tony later had the privilege to collaborate on the drafting of the Natural Resource Charter.
The following month, on the invitation of the World Bank and the Norwegian government, he had the honour to take part in the first national dialogue on the oil industry in Ghana, just a few months after the first major discovery – Jubilee Field. Later that year, he helped host a delegation from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC, the national oil company and the Ghana Ministry to T&T to start discussions on collaboration.
From almost its inception, Tony has been fortunate to be part of Ghana’s oil and gas industry. He has visited dozens of times, graciously hosted by changing governments, on various assignments and for various lengths of time. His work involved training and supporting institutional development for the ministry of energy and the petroleum commission (Upstream Regulator) as well as drafting their upstream and downstream local content policies, writing an implementation strategy, plan and tools and supporting the drafting of regulations.
One of the other gentlemen at that ‘fateful’ table in Oslo in 1989 was from Ghana. The then head of the GNPC was Tsatsu Tsikata, who built the GNPC and is widely regarded as the ‘Father of Ghana’s oil and gas industry.’ It didn’t take much to convince him to visit T&T and strengthen the bond between our countries. Having been a part of the team setting up the Petroleum Commission, Tony continues to be an invited feature speaker and panellist to their annual Local Content conference, up to November 2025.
Tony’s travels in Africa took him to 15 countries across the continent. Here, he embraced the warmth, generosity, and richness of the wide range of cultures. He spent the pandemic years from 2020 and 2022 in Mozambique, working with government and national institutions to support the design of governance systems and to help conceptualise a natural gas-based industrialisation model capable of transforming the economy.
In Senegal, he contributed to shaping policy around natural gas development and its integration into national industrial policy. In Kenya, he supported the development of petroleum local-content policy and regulations and national capacity-building structures.
In Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau and Angola, he worked with national oil companies (NOCs) and ministries to strengthen governance, improve oversight, and expand local value-retention systems.
In Nigeria, he worked with the National Assembly, the Senate, the DPR (former regulator) and the Governor of Delta State on local content, capacity building, natural gas development and governance improvement. In Equatorial Guinea, he advised on building a national gas company.
Aside from presenting at dozens of conferences, Tony has conducted multiple training programmes and workshops for parliamentarians, civil society, businesses, students and communities in most of these countries. Such training programs were also done in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia. In each country, whether large or small, new producer or mature industry, Tony came into contact with dedicated, passionate teams striving to build a better future for their people.
With almost two decades of work in Africa, one of his greatest joys has been sharing the knowledge he once gained in T&T, the UK and the USA. Tony translated those lessons into practical systems for African governments, regulators, and NOCs. This activity brought him immense happiness and deep hope when young professionals from Accra, Maputo, Windhoek, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Abuja, or Lagos reached out to him and said: “I want to further my studies, please, what advice can you give me?” “I want to advance my career, what should I do next?” “I want you to mentor me… I want you to coach me.”
Sharing his expertise gives him comfort in knowing that he will not simply be another library, taking up a quiet space in a cemetery when the time comes. Instead, the ideas will continue, in the hands, the hearts, and the courage of Africa’s next generation. Nothing is more fulfilling. Tony declared:
“This award is not only about my work. It is about collaboration between governments, NOCs, civil society, parliamentarians, businesses, and communities. It is about aligning national aspirations with investor capabilities. It is about building institutions that will outlast any one of us. It is about ensuring that Africa’s natural resources deliver prosperity for her people—not by accident, but by design. I thank the ministries, regulators, and institutions for trusting me to be part of their national ambitions and for the privilege of contributing to their journey. And the young people who seek mentorship, for reminding me why this work matters, why knowledge must be shared, and why the future of Africa’s energy sector is in more capable hands than ever before.”
Tony remarked that he is deeply grateful for this honour and thanked the organisers and the award panel. He wished the people of Ghana and Africa the very best in continuing the journey of building systems, strengthening institutions, lifting their people, and shaping a prosperous, empowered energy future for the continent.
Tony was born in St. James, Trinidad, and attended the Woodbrook Presbyterian Primary School. St Mary’s College, Port of Spain, was where he obtained his secondary education. His tertiary education saw him graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Geology from Imperial College, London, and a Master of Science in Exploration Geophysics from the University of Houston, Texas.
After his successes, Tony filled the position of Director of Geology and Geophysics at the ministry of energy. He then left the ministry of energy and became the senior Geophysicist in the Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Company Limited (TRINTOPEC), and afterwards, the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Petrotrin). I came into contact with Tony in 1990 during my employee orientation week at Trintopec. As a former colleague in the petroleum industry in T&T, I am very proud and happy about Tony’s award.
Tony is a principal consultant at the Association of Caribbean Energy Specialists (ACES) Ltd., a leading Caribbean oil, natural gas and power advisory firm, based in T&T. In his 30-plus years in petroleum and mining, he has held technical, commercial, management and leadership roles, spanning the entire petroleum exploration and production value chain in government and state and multinational companies.
