The most important capital in today's edition may be the capital that does not have to be spent twice.

Panoro Energy is buying producing Côte d’Ivoire gas already connected to offshore platforms, pipelines and a domestic power market. ExxonMobil and its partners have moved a $1 billion Nigerian infill programme into execution around an existing deepwater production system. In South Africa, Barbrook's proposed restart begins with historical material and processing infrastructure already standing on site.

Kenya provides the counterpoint. The suspension of Tata Chemicals Magadi has exposed how dependence on a single extractive operation can create vulnerabilities far beyond the mine gate, reaching the chemicals Nairobi uses to treat its municipal water.

For investors, the question is how much capital still needs to be spent before geology becomes cash flow. A resource beside an operating plant, pipeline or FPSO can compete for capital differently from one requiring an entirely new development system.

For governments, the same infrastructure can become concentration risk where downstream users have no alternative.

Existing infrastructure therefore creates two kinds of value: lower capital intensity for the resource owner, and strategic importance for the host economy. The second becomes dangerous when there is no redundancy.