Ceraweek: 'Energy transition? Leave us out,' say African energy leaders (updated)

Magma Silver

09/03/2022 16:46

(Adds comments by Equatorial Guinea)
    By Sabrina Valle and Arathy Somasekhar
    HOUSTON, March 9 (Reuters) - Developing countries should not
have to target renewable energy sources and turn away from
fossil fuels, Nigerian and Equatorial Guinea energy officials
said on Wednesday, joining other emerging oil-producing nations
reluctant to embrace the global energy transition trend.     
    Some 900 million people in the world, most of them in
Africa, still have no access to energy for basic needs,
Nigeria's oil Minister Timipre Marlin Sylva said on Tuesday
during the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
    "We are still in transition from firewood to gas," Sylva
said. "Please allow us to continue with our own transition."
    Equatorial Guinea Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons Gabriel
Obiang Lima echoed concerns, saying the pressure over renewables
is "very unjust", with a discussion on how to transition only
possible after the energy security crisis is over.
    Other countries with oil discoveries still in development,
including Ghana, Guyana and Suriname, also have said they cannot
be expected to give up the chance to benefit from oil and gas
that helped build more developed economies.
    "They want all of us, including those of us without food, to
carry the burden of transition," Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) general manager Bala Wunti said. 
    Nigeria is now facing a double blow from high prices of gas
for cooking that it imports and lack of investment in its oil
industry, Sylva said, as banks and funds have been pushing to
restrict investment in oil globally to cut greenhouse gas
emissions and fight climate change. 
    In past years, Nigeria had to cut oil production from 1.8
million barrels per day (bpd) to less than 1.5 million bpd due
to lack of financing to maintain its facilities, Sylva said.
    That lost production could have helped contribute to global
supply as the world now seeks alternatives to Russian oil after
buyers halted purchases over its invasion of Ukraine, he said.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation". 
    Investors backing renewable fuels have cut financing for oil
projects, reducing production of oil, gas and coal faster than
renewable sources of energy could replace them, pushing prices
up, he said.
   "It was expected we were going to arrive at this point where
we have an energy crisis," Sylva said. "There is a gap."

 (Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and
David Gregorio)
 ((sabrina.valle@tr.com | Twitter: @sabrinavalle))