The Africa Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) has warned that it would be a huge mistake for African countries to abandon their hydrocarbon resources due to energy transition, adding that Africa must seek to make better use of its resources for economic development.
The Secretary General of APPO, Dr Farouq Ibrahim, gave the warning yesterday in his keynote address at the 2023, 3rd Biennial International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science & Technology (ICHST) with the theme ‘The Future of the Oil and Gas Industry: Opportunities, Challenges and Developments.’
Ibrahim said: “While the world is committed to a speedy energy transition, Africa owes its people a duty to utilise its abundant oil and gas resources to provide them energy, which is the most potent catalyst for socio-economic development. In other words, Africa must create a future for the oil and gas industry.
“We have been made to believe that we are too poor to buy energy. So over 70 per cent of the oil we produce daily is exported to those who are rich to buy it. Over 40 per cent of the gas we produce is also exported outside Africa. Yet, our continent has the largest proportion of its people living in energy poverty, with over 600 million of its population living without access to electricity and 0ver 900 million without access to any form of modern energy for cooking or other domestic use.
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“What we have failed to realise is that until we are able to energise the hundreds of millions living without energy, our quest for poverty alleviation shall remain a mirage. Energy is the biggest catalyst for economic transformation. Empower the people to access energy, not just to light their homes but also to create cottage industries and you will be shocked at the multiplier effect.”
He said Africa had allowed the developed world to see it as beggarly. That is why it is not really going into the foundation of the problem of energy transition.
He said: ‘Whatever we are given in terms of aid will not help us, in terms of what we need to be able to develop. What we need to do is say that today’s problem is a result of 150 years of emissions largely caused by today’s industrialised nations. In those 150 years, they have put in the atmosphere, 2500 megatons of emissions. Because of that, we are said to be in a serious problem because the world is saturated with emissions.
“Today, there is a technology that is able to remove that carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bury it somewhere and will reduce the intensity of the emission outside. What don’t to say to the West, take your money, and develop that technology, take out only 500 megatons, which will allow Africa to able to use oil and gas for the next 25 to 50 years to develop as an industrialised society and it will still not be able to put back 500 megatons. At most, half of what they have removed.
“The problem is, if you say that and they succeed, you are asking them to continue to be dependent on oil and gas, something they are determined not to. The whole question of energy transition is the question of energy security. If Europe and America were the ones that have the oil and gas reserves we have, we would not be talking about energy transition today.”
Also speaking at the conference, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo observed that “Recent world events like the Russian-Ukraine conflict accentuated the fragile nature of the dynamics of energy demand. With a particular reference to gas, Nigeria was inadequately prepared and did not seize the opportunities created by the increase in the demand for gas supply to Europe and other parts of the world.
“On our home front, there is the need to boost the domestic market for gas. Nigeria is known to be a gas-rich country rather than oil with a proven reserve of over 200tcf of gas. Local issues include inadequate infrastructure, unfair regulatory environment for gas, sabotage of pipelines, and the inability to optimise value from abundant gas reserves.”
On his part, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri tasked industry operators, experts and technologists to come up with solutions that would tackle challenges peculiar to the Nigerian environment including oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
Earlier, the Principal/CEO of Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Dr Henry Adimula explained that energy democratisation “Stands as a paramount concept. It entails the democratisation of energy resources and technology, ensuring that clean and sustainable energy sources are accessible to all, regardless of their location or economic status.”
