Page 46 - Energize January 2022

VIEWS AND OPINION

Why we need African energy banks, now

by NJ Ayuk, African Energy Chamber
F or more than a year, the African Energy Chamber has been pushing back against steadily

building pressure to halt new foreign investments in Africa’s oil and gas industry.
To prevent catastrophic climate change, environmental organisations, financial
organisations and governments across Europe and North America have insisted that
developing nations, including those in Africa, must immediately transition from fossil fuel
production and usage to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydrogen.
Mind you, the majority of those making these demands are based in industrialised
nations that were built on fossil fuels — oil and gas fuelled their economic engines — yet
they are unwilling to allow less developed nations to use fossil fuels to the same end. Even
more troubling, the African countries these groups are taking aim at have a wealth of natural
resources under their feet, resources that can be used to deliver reliable power, to grow
economies, and to build a better future. is not the environmental catastrophe that
These are a few of the reasons that the Secretary General of the African Petroleum some have suggested it is.
Producers’ Organisation, Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim, has rightly pointed out that it would be a As OPEC Secretary General
mistake for Africans to abandon their abundant petroleum resources. Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo has said,
Turning our backs on approximately 130 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and addressing energy poverty in Africa is
over 15 trillion standard cubic meters of natural gas, to pursue expensive, unreliable energy an urgent matter that must take priority
sources, would not be a wise course of action. over abandoning oil and gas. Barkindo
The African Energy Chamber has stated, over and over, that Africa still needs its oil and described the devastating impacts of
gas sector. And we’ve tried to explain the important role that international oil companies energy poverty during African Energy
(IOCs), foreign governments, and investment institutions play in building the kind of oil and Week in Cape Town. (Incidentally, that
gas sector that will truly benefit Africans. IOCs, for example, engage in knowledge sharing and meeting was organised after London-
provide opportunities for Africans to build valuable job skills. What’s more, foreign oil and gas based Hyve Group/Africa Oil Week moved
investments generate revenue that can be used to build and improve energy infrastructure — from Cape Town to Dubai. Imagine talking
for both fossil fuels and renewables. And, by supporting natural gas projects, investors create a about African energy somewhere other
path for gas-to-power projects that help minimise the continent’s widespread energy poverty. than in Africa? Seems like that’s another
In July 2021, when it became apparent that reasoning was not yielding results, the example of the West holding our energy
chamber went so far as to employ the same tactics the international community used against industry in low regard.)
our members. We called for boycotts (https://bit.ly/3FTH7rb) against financial institutions “The unfortunate reality for developing
which discriminated against the African oil and gas industry. countries is that a staggering 759 million
But the calls to stop financing African oil and gas have only grown louder and more people worldwide did not have access to
insistent. Most recently, during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) electricity in 2019, with around 79% of
in Glasgow, more than 20 countries and financial institutions pledged to stop public financing them located in Africa,” Barkindo said.
for overseas fossil fuel projects. “Moreover, there were roughly 2,6 billion
For those of us who care about Africa’s oil and gas industry, it’s time to face facts: We need people or 34% of the global population
to find a way to save it ourselves. The African Energy Chamber is calling upon African states and who did not have access to clean cooking
the private sector to establish energy banks focused on funding African energy projects. The fuels and technologies — and this includes
idea is to create funding sources for all types of African energy — from oil and gas exploration a massive 70% of Africans who have no
to solar and hydrogen operations — that will not depend on foreign support. No more begging access, exposing them to high levels of
for aid that only would be awarded on the condition that we abandon fossil fuels. household air pollution.
We can do this, and we must. Too much is at stake. We can’t afford not to capitalise on “The energy poverty numbers for Africa
such recent discoveries as the light oil found offshore Angola, the oil in Namibia’s Kavango are stark,” Barkindo continued “And to add
Basin, the shale gas in South Africa’s Karoo Basin, or the oil and natural gas off the coast of in one further number, Africa accounts for
Côte d’Ivoire. Those are only a few of the important discoveries that occurred in 2021, and only around 3% of global emissions.”
each represents critical opportunities for everyday Africans. As the chairman of the African Union,
President Macky Sall of Senegal, has said,
Pressing needs call for definitive action African states are open to embracing
The call for Africa to keep its oil and gas industry alive is not based on greed, on making money renewable energy sources: The problem
for an elite few. We’re not placing economic objectives above our people or the climate. On comes when we are bullied into giving up
the contrary, we are convinced that harnessing our oil and gas is the best way to meet some of our fossil fuels, and the opportunities they
our people’s most pressing needs. And we believe that pursuing our oil and gas opportunities represent, on others’ timetables.

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