History
AOG is a private investment group founded in 1987, by energy sector professionals, with a wealth of expertise in international trade and in-depth knowledge of Africa. AOG has, ever since, been characterised by an entrepreneurial spirit and an instinctive ability to identify new business opportunities.
The founders were quick to recognise the investment potential in sub-Saharan Africa, knowing that they had the skills and capabilities to embrace local business cultures without compromising their core principles of fairness and equality which today still confers to the group its reputation for integrity.
Because AOG has always been privately owned, it has avoided the short-term demands of institutional shareholders and kept its sights fixed on long-term growth.
It quickly extended from oil trading into oil and gas product storage and distribution in response to the energy needs of consumers and business across sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the trading and downstream businesses are one integrated business (Oryx Energies) based in Geneva. The Group developed an upstream exploration and production business in 1994 (Addax Petroleum active in East Africa and the Middle East) which was sold to Sinopec in 2009, before creating a new upstream business (Oryx Petroleum mainly active in the Middle East) the following year. In 2020, Oryx Petroleum was divested to enable AOG to concentrate on exploration and evaluation activities in the joint maritime zone of the Republic of Senegal and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. In 2008, an innovative renewable energy project was launched in Sierra Leone (Addax Bioenergy), which began production in 2014 and made first sales in 2015, before transferring a majority ownership to Sunbird Bioenergy Africa in 2016. AOG has thus continuously driven development in regions where it is needed.
The flexibility to see the world through local eyes, while maintaining a global perspective has always been one of AOG’s major strengths. The Group is proud to be an eclectic mix of nationalities and cultures, united by the neutrality of the founders' Swiss roots.
In 2010, AOG took the strategic decision to develop a commercial property investment portfolio in Europe and North America, and to further diversify its assets through other capital investments.
In 2019, the creation of AOG Capital Investment enabled the development of a diversified portfolio of financial assets.
Driven by the same entrepreneurial spirit for over 35 years, we like facing challenges while taking carefully calculated risks. The Group is thus pursuing its development from solid fundamentals with an ability to adapt contributing to its distinctive identity.
