Opinion

Clean Energy Transition In Africa:Five Takeaways From The SPE Lagos Technical Symposium

Published

on

Haruna Muhammad

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"OLhIpS9a" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The clean energy transition has been a trendy topic from Lagos to Los Angeles&comma; Davos to Darussalam&comma; and Abu-Dhabi down to Aukland&period; Industry captains and leading state actors champion campaigns and roll out strategic plans to accelerate the clean energy transition&period; Today&comma; this is not breaking news&colon; leading multinational oil and gas companies have expanded their portfolios to accommodate non-fossil fuels and enable the clean energy transition&period; For instance&comma; in Paris&comma; on May 28&comma; 2021&comma; Total switched to TotalEnergies&period; While giving out why Total changed its name to TotalEnergies&comma; the Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies&comma; Patrick Pouyanne&comma; said&comma; our ambition is to be a world-class player in the energy transition &lbrack;1&rsqb;&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"PDjxA17g" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>In Nigeria&comma; in line with the Federal Government&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8216&semi;decade of gas&&num;8217&semi; initiative&comma; a global leading energy company&comma; Shell&comma; in November 2021&comma; unveiled Shell Energy Nigeria with the sole aim to increase natural gas marketing and sales to meet up with ever-growing energy demands and&comma; of course&comma; accelerate the energy transition in the country and world at large &lbrack;2&rsqb;&period; An article by McKinsey&comma; &&num;8220&semi;The big choices for oil and gas in navigating the energy transition&comma;&&num;8221&semi; provided an insight into how companies are responding to the low-carbon emission transition &lbrack;3&rsqb;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Without much rhetoric&comma; one can deduce how the big players in the energy industry are committed to reducing carbon emissions and accelerating the energy transition&period; This is in line with the UN Paris Agreement 2016&comma; which aims to limit global warming to 1&period;5 to 2&period;0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels&period; To fulfill this&comma; all global economy functions must be committed and will be required to reduce emissions in the next ten years &lpar;10&rpar; years coming&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2022&sol;05&sol;22&sol;malariafud-researchers-discovers-mosquitoes-resistant-to-insecticides&sol;">Malaria&colon;FUD Researchers Discovers Mosquitoes Resistant To Insecticides<&sol;a><&sol;p><div class&equals;"NuT913GX" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>While the rest of the world&&num;8217&semi;s continents are rolling out plans to meet up the UN Paris Agreement&comma; the story of energy transition in Africa wears a different systemic symbol&period; This is because of the continent&&num;8217&semi;s long-term quest to address energy poverty&period; Stakeholders and business heads are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea&period; It is a confusing story for Africa because people don&&num;8217&semi;t know where they are transiting to&comma; all courtesy of ravaging poverty&comma; insecurity&comma; and energy crisis&period; For Africa&comma; energy transition is a story on papers&comma; while the reality of the situation is near unattainable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The SPE Lagos Technical Symposium&comma; on the other hand&comma; provided an intellectual discourse to bring together energy professionals and stakeholders to discuss energy transition&period; In Africa&comma; Nigeria is known for notorious gas flaring&period; Nigeria joins nine other countries that account for 75&percnt; of the global gas flaring&comma; as stated by the World Bank during the Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report 2022 published on the bank’s website &lbrack;4&rsqb;&period; Thankfully&comma; the stakeholders are taking impressive actions to address that to save the planet from the dangers of climate injustice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The symposium&comma; graced by seasoned oil and gas professionals&comma; was held on the 18th and 19th May 2022 in hybrid formation&period; Based on over two &lpar;2&rpar; hours long panel discussions of Africa’s energy transition&comma; here are the five takeaways from the panelists&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>1&period; Hon&period; N&period;J&period; Ayuk&comma; Executive Chairman&comma; African Energy Chamber<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr&period; Ayuk&comma; a strong advocate for African entrepreneurship and the indigenous energy sector&comma; spoke passionately about Africa&&num;8217&semi;s possible ways to the energy transition&period; From the way he started the conversation&comma; you would be amazed by his depth of knowledge and experience&period; He said&colon; You cannot decarbonize something that is not even carbonized&period; Mr&period; Ayuk centered his argument on the need for strong financial institutions and funding within to drive changes in the African energy sector&period; In his closing remarks&comma; he added that stakeholders should look inwards and invest in gas because it is the future&period; He also called for a change of policies and more gas to power projects that will create jobs and address climate injustice in the African region&period; Africa should be on the supply side of the global economy not otherwise&comma; he noted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>2&period; Victor Bandele&comma; Deputy Manager&comma; Deep Water Assets&comma; TotalEnergies&comma; Nigeria<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr&period; Victor&comma; an industry leader&comma; intelligently talked about challenges in the policy framework in Nigeria and how oil and gas wells are being mismanaged&period; Riding on that point&comma; he added that&comma; in the early days of oil and gas exploration&comma; most gas wells were left untapped by only focusing on oil-major wells&period; This act of mismanagement is hunting the energy sector in some countries in Africa&period; He said we need to deliberate on what we want to do&period; Africa should champion big projects that will attract investors&period; The seasoned professional further highlighted the need to expand energy access in Africa via exploring gas wells and solidifying transformational agendas by the stakeholders in what he termed a balanced approach&period; To achieve this&comma; gas infrastructure will network across the African region&comma; which will be utilized for domestic purposes&period; He also noted that you could not build on the future energy unless you&&num;8217&semi;ve initial energy&period; The only way to reduce carbon footprint in Africa is by significantly drilling more gas wells over oil wells&period; This way&comma; he exclaimed that Africa&&num;8217&semi;s quest for ending energy poverty is attainable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>3&period; Mr&period; Kamel Ben – Naceur&comma; the President&comma; Society of Petroleum Engineers International<br &sol;>&NewLine;Mr&period; Kamel&comma; as an international authority&comma; spoke about SPE&&num;8217&semi;s goals to complement the sustainable development goals of the UN by pointing out that energy transition policies vary from developed economies to developing economies&period; Moreover&comma; Kamel talked about the SPEi&&num;8217&semi;s plan to collaborate with sister organizations to create a CO2 Assessment tool for CO2 storage&period; Despite experiencing low investment in six years due to sensitivity of the global market concerning the political events&comma; he said&comma; the oil and gas industry has now witnessed a significant increment in investment by 20&percnt;&period; Finally&comma; Mr&period; Kamel admitted that Africa has a vital role to play when it comes to the energy transition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>4&period; Proscovia NABBANJA&comma; Chief Executive Office&comma; Ugandan National Oil Company<br &sol;>&NewLine;The CEO shared her country&&num;8217&semi;s mission to explore opportunities and investments in the Ugandan energy sector&period; Through strategic project planning&comma; the government has attracted suitable investments&period; Mrs&period; Proscovia further discussed the country&&num;8217&semi;s goals in exploring opportunities in non-fossil fuels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>5&period; Cany Jobe&comma; Director of Exploration&comma; Gambia National Oil Company<br &sol;>&NewLine;Cany Jobe&comma; who carries over 14 years of work in energy projects in West Africa&comma; shared her views on balancing the energy mix&period; She spoke passionately about Africa should drive her energy transition framework&period; She rhetorically asked&comma; what we are transitioning from &lpar;&quest;&rpar;&period; The discussion should be around solving energy poverty in Africa rather than energy transition&period; In her final remarks&comma; she said that Africa&&num;8217&semi;s energy sector faces financial constraints&comma; and it is not feasible to achieve energy transition without optimizing energy production&period; If you haven&&num;8217&semi;t gone through it &lpar;energy poverty&rpar;&comma; she said you have no right to talk about it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Africa&comma; energy poverty reigns&period; This is the only continent of the world with a massive gap between modern energy access in the rural and urban areas&period; According to a report &lbrack;5&rsqb;&comma; &&num;8220&semi;A clean energy revolution in sub-Saharan Africa is urgently needed to win the fight against energy poverty&period; Clean energy provides a golden thread to deliver on the promise of Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals &lpar;SDGs&rpar; and the Paris Agreement&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the Sub-Saharan African region becomes a hub of energy poverty&comma; efforts are underway by both states and federal governments at different levels to address the problem&period; In all&comma; relevant stakeholders must work extra-hard towards addressing the energy crisis because there is ample opportunity in solar and power&comma; which are cheaper than coal in some countries&period; This will generate more job opportunities and accelerate the energy transition&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Written by Haruna Inuwa&comma; Energy Professional from Lagos state&comma; Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reference<br &sol;>&NewLine;&lbrack;1&rsqb; https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;2021&sol;09&sol;total-nigeria-plc-changes-name-to-totalenergies-marketing-nigeria-plc-official&sol;&num;&colon;~&colon;text&equals;Energy&percnt;20transition&percnt;3A&percnt;20Total&percnt;20changes&percnt;20name&comma;five&percnt;20in&percnt;20renewables&percnt;20by&percnt;202030&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;2&rsqb; https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;shell&period;com&period;ng&sol;media&sol;2021-media-releases&sol;shell-unveils-shell-energy-business-in-nigeria&period;html<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;3&rsqb; https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mckinsey&period;com&sol;industries&sol;oil-and-gas&sol;our-insights&sol;the-big-choices-for-oil-and-gas-in-navigating-the-energy-transition&num;&colon;~&colon;text&equals;The&percnt;20primary&percnt;20technologies&percnt;E2&percnt;80&percnt;94renewable&percnt;20power&comma;all&percnt;20represent&percnt;20potential&percnt;20growth&percnt;20markets&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;4&rsqb; https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;nigeria-nine-others-account-for-75-global-gas-flaring-world-bank&sol;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&lbrack;5&rsqb; https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;oecd&period;org&sol;environment&sol;cc&sol;climate-futures&sol;Achieving-clean-energy-access-Sub-Saharan-Africa&period;pdf<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

Trending

Exit mobile version