“ARE WE ENTERING a Golden Age of Gas?”
This was the question the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) posed in 20111—a question the agency answered with a resounding “Yes.” Their outlook was positive for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that there’s an awful lot of the resource to go around, in terms of both distribution and volume. There are natural gas basins on six of the seven continents, excluding only Antarctica, and the report’s authors estimated that the total amount of commercially recoverable reserves—back then, this was about 193.8 trillion barrels—could sustain production levels for 250 years.
The IEA noted that, in addition to being plentiful, natural gas is cleaner burning than other fossil fuels and cheaper for consumers. Over time, the agency predicted, natural gas could become a transport fuel, reduce the use of coal and nuclear energy, and drastically cut pollution and greenhouse gases. By 2035, they projected, global demand will grow by 55 percent, and natural gas will account for 25 percent of world energy, a significantly larger share of the global mix than ever.
Although prices have wavered slightly since this 2011 pronouncement, the optimism was not misplaced. Natural gas can achieve all of those things and more. Natural gas occupies a special place in the energy world, standing at the nexus of economy and environment. It’s abundant, accessible, and affordable. And because it provides the most energy per unit of carbon emission among fossil fuels, it bridges the gap for those not quite ready to kick the hydrocarbon habit but interested in a more climate-friendly form of fuel.
And the luster of this Golden Age of Gas extends well into Africa. So much so, in fact, that many industry experts consider the continent to be its new frontier. With descriptions such as “a prime mover,”2 “the new oil for Africa,”3 and the key to “transformative change”4 on the continent, I believe that we will see natural gas playing a crucial role in Africa’s economic future.
For too many in Africa, the amenities of “modern life” remain beyond reach. Even as urbanization expands, and with it, the attendant demand for lights, appliances, and digital devices, great swaths of Africa plunge into near or total darkness come nightfall. More than 620 million sub-Saharan Africans—or a full two-thirds of the population—live without access to any electricity at all. And that number is actually rising. While the IEA projects that one billion people will gain access to electricity in Africa by 2040, including 950 million in the sub-Saharan region, explosive population growth is expected to sink more and more people into a powerless abyss.
As IEA notes, “the remaining global population without electricity access becomes increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa—this figure reaches 75 percent in 2040, compared with half today.”5 Incidentally, this is the only place in the world where lack of access is getting worse, not better.
This is not a problem related to an absence of conveniences or lack of luxuries. It’s a very real public health issue. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, remote village clinics are so far off the grid that only solar power is available to light the way for medical care. Solar, of course, can’t be relied on for consistent baseload power, so when there’s no sun, very few services can be delivered.
Ghana, on the other hand, represents the kind of medical advances that can occur when electricity reaches more people. Well-lit, well-powered health facilities are actually driving demand for health services, with more women coming into facilities to give birth with a skilled birth attendant. In addition, the nation’s more reliable power grid has translated into better cold supply chains that keep essential childhood vaccines safe and may even help prevent the continent’s next Ebola outbreak.
But expanded access to reliable electricity would do more than improve Africans’ quality of life: it would also wean sub-Saharan Africa from its dependence on biomass for energy. Some 730 million people rely on fuelwood, charcoal, agricultural waste, or even animal dung for cooking. Burning biomass produces a potentially harmful, particulate-laden smoke, and burning it indoors—as millions of people do—concentrates the smoke and fumes to the point where inhaling them is as toxic as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.6 Researchers link exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass to the premature deaths of about 1.3 million people worldwide every year.7
On the continent, we can look to North Africa as a model of electrification success—90 percent of the region’s population has electricity connections. And even despite the rather grim outlook in sub-Saharan Africa, we do see some pockets of progress, particularly in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya. From 2000 to 2018, Kenya increased its power access rate by 65 percentage points to 73 percent and is targeting universal access by 2022. Ethiopia provided power to 5 percent of its population in 2000. The access rate is now 45 percent with a target for universal access by 2025.8
We know that Africa’s electricity troubles are formidable, adding to and amplifying severe economic, societal, health, and human development woes. But I’ve seen the glimmer of hope. By strategically exploiting the continent’s new natural gas discoveries to produce electricity—“gas-to-power,” as it’s known—investors and producers can help Africa reduce imports, grow exports, expand access to electricity, improve its economy, and fund social development.
Natural gas is also seen as a step toward a low-carbon, sustainable world that relies exclusively on renewable resources. In light of increasing environmental pressures to reduce greenhouse emissions, cleaner (and increasingly affordable) natural gas has stepped into the spotlight to replace coal as the most attractive alternative for generating electricity. For transportation and power production, natural gas produces less CO2 emissions than diesel, gasoline, or coal. For electricity generation, natural gas-fired power plants can be integrated with renewable sources like wind and solar.9
Aside from the green benefits of gas-fired generation, gas-to-power has financial pluses: Facilities are typically less expensive and faster to build than coal or nuclear plants, and natural gas is so efficient that just a small volume generates a lot of electricity.
Natural gas has been the leading fuel for electricity generation since 2015, after sitting in the number two spot (behind coal) for decades.10 Russia, Japan, and Taiwan have the top five gas-fired power plants in the world.11 And as a result of major offshore gas discoveries, Africa has a keen opportunity to participate more fully in the gas-to-power movement today.
Africa has certain economic advantages when it comes to extracting natural gas, including relatively open access and generally attractive leasing terms. The continent’s lower cost structure has been attractive to a wide range of investors, including majors, independents, and national oil companies. Although resources are not divided equally—more than 92 percent of the continent’s total gas reserves are concentrated in four nations: Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, and Libya—prospects are promising across the continent, from the coast of Mauritania to the waters off Mozambique.
In other words, the potential is there. And some governments across the continent are already exploiting it.
According to the World Bank,12 Nigeria alone has enough discovered gas to generate more than 80 GW of power for 30 years. Nigeria’s Roadmap for Power Sector Reform sets a goal of 20 GW of generation capacity by 2020, and most of this capacity will be gas-fired. Discoveries offshore Ghana, Namibia, and Côte d’Ivoire are expected to yield enough gas to meet current electricity demand for more than 50 years, while Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Mauritania, and Gabon have enough discovered gas equivalent for more than 100 years. A super-major-scale discovery offshore Senegal and Mauritania holds an estimated additional 450 bcm of gas.13 Not only could some of it be converted to electricity, the finding prompted Senegal’s energy minister to say he foresees energy self-sufficiency for his nation, with the possibility of it becoming a net gas exporter very real.
Those aren’t the only advances, however. In addition:
South Africa’s Department of Energy gas-to-power program was developed to facilitate the construction of gas distribution infrastructure.14
Natural gas-fired thermal plants sustain 50 percent of the sub-Saharan region’s grid-connected capacity. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says that more than 90 percent of capacity comes from Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire. Angola is currently developing 400 MW of gas-fired power plants.
Mozambique’s development of its Coral gas field brought in more than 70 percent of its $11 billion gross domestic product in 2016, and the reserves will fulfill the energy needs for itself and its neighbors.15
Cameroon has experienced recent successes with floating LNG offshore platforms. It also introduced technological improvements that could further reduce the cost of production and make natural gas even more competitive for power generation.
Despite the progress, African producers all across the continent are, unfortunately, still making a grave mistake: handicapping themselves and Africa as a whole by continuing to flare off gas. Instead of wasting this precious resource, we should be capturing it and using it to build our manufacturing base.
We need to come to a universal understanding: We can’t run industries by generators. Gas-to-power will help us use the gas to create a diversified, industrialized economy.
In an article published in 2018, I posed this question: Why would a country in West Africa choose to import expensive diesel from refineries in Texas for its power stations, when it could use its own cheaper resources, or those of a gas-producing neighbor, to power its economy? 16
Fulfilling the needs of Africans first is vitally important. What would be even better? Fulfilling our needs with our own resources. The domestic market within our continental borders must not be overlooked any longer. Once we’ve taken care of ourselves, then we can discuss exports. But let’s try to be cognizant of where those exports are headed.
Historically, the continent hasn’t developed its energy resources to bring power to the people—instead, the focus has been on supporting other nations through exports. Consider OPEC member Nigeria, which ships 40 percent of its oil to the United States, or Ghana, where the largest single export is fuel going to the European Union. In fact, two out of every three dollars put into the sub-Saharan energy sector since 2000 have been committed to the development of resources for export.
With the sub-Saharan region expected to produce 175 bcm of natural gas per year by 2040, natural gas could have continent-wide influence, supplementing Africa’s hydropower resources and replacing coal and liquid fuels (and biomass) for power. But that can happen only if Africa keeps some of its natural gas riches to itself.
I agree with H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines, Industry and Energy in Equatorial Guinea, who recently told me, “We must provide for our citizens, who need to be able to power their cars, their homes and their businesses. To this end, it is cheaper to create an industry by which we can use our own gas, as opposed to exporting our gas as LNG and then being forced to import fuel for domestic use. There is great value in both export and domestic use of gas in a diverse and strong economy.”
Equatorial Guinea is one of the largest oil and gas markets in sub-Saharan Africa. And with an impressive resumé that includes service in the oil and gas sector since 1997, Lima understands the vital role that hydrocarbons play in domestic revenue. Prior to taking on his current post, he was minister delegate, vice minister, Secretary of State for Mines and Hydrocarbons, government representative in the Equity of the State in production-sharing contracts, and presidential adviser of hydrocarbons. In addition, he has served as a board member of three national companies: Sonagas, SEGESA, and GEPetrol.
“While there is certainly a demand for our products to be exported globally, there is also a great need for the downstream sectors to be developed in Africa and for these resources to be used at home, as refined products, fertilizers, petrochemicals, and in power generation,” said Lima, whose goal is to create a positive environment for national and international oil and gas companies, while ensuring that local residents benefit from those efforts. “This leads to more stability, diversification, better quality of work, and more jobs for our people.”
Lima’s points about natural gas align closely with those of Guillaume Doane, the CEO of Africa Oil & Power. As the organizer of high-level investment conferences focused on the African energy industries, he has his finger on the pulse of the sector. In fact, he cites Equatorial Guinea as an exemplary model of the “Africa First” movement that calls for African countries maximizing local beneficiation of their natural resources.
“Equatorial Guinea, in so many ways, has set an example and demonstrated a leadership position on the importance of utilizing its natural resources for the benefit of its own people and neighbors. Its use of natural gas for LNG exports, for gas-to-power facilities, for compressed natural gas, and, further down the road, on exciting industry and petrochemical projects, provides a reference point for the rest of the continent,” Doane told me in a recent interview. “Furthermore, Equatorial Guinea has established something of a template for how African countries holding a wealth of natural gas can share their resources and work with their African neighbors on building gas import infrastructure.”
We should also realize that the global export market might not be the “cash cow” that it once was. The market is oversaturated due to factors such as the United States shale boom, increased Middle Eastern production, and Australia’s significant LNG export investments. African producers used to look toward the United States and European countries as solid buyers. Not so much anymore.
I believe that this is actually a blessing in disguise. Using locally sourced (or at least continentally sourced) natural gas can help curb our costly imports of refined oil products from abroad. Forcing our energy producers to look “inside the box” (within Africa, that is) can be the impetus needed to foster vibrant intra-African energy trading. And strong economic ties can promote political alliances and create a strong internal market.
So, let’s forget about trying to compete with the world’s major energy producers over international contracts and focus instead on our regional market. That’s simply more realistic—and more important for the economic health and future prosperity of our continent.
Consider Tanzania: Currently, at least 50 percent of the power generated from natural gas is being used by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), with the rest going for industrial heating, petrochemical feedstock, and cooking and vehicle fuel. Its natural gas production is effectively slashing its dependence on energy imports—saving upwards of $7.4 billion between 2004 and 2015, according to the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TDPC). Those funds have been funneled into projects that might have otherwise been put on hold, such as the development of a fertilizer plant that will have an installed capacity to produce 2,200 and 3,850 metric tons of ammonia and urea per day, respectively. That project is creating up to 5,000 long-term jobs—and improving the country’s economy for generations.17
Tanzania’s strong regional economy will also improve relations among countries and create a robust internal market for African industries, African businesses, and African people. Once its domestic natural gas system is fully developed, Tanzania intends to export some of the electricity it produces—but only as far as neighboring Kenya.18
I applaud the work of a consortium headed by South African independent SacOil in championing a 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile), large-diameter natural gas pipeline from the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique to Gauteng Province, where both Johannesburg and Pretoria are located. Dr. Thabo Kgogo, Interim CEO of SacOil, told the magazine ESI Africa that the project will “improve Africa’s energy infrastructure landscape, support economic growth, increase the international competitiveness of southern African economies, create jobs and improve living standards.”19
And, really, that is what’s at the heart of the natural gas opportunity in Africa. Yes, investors from all over the world recognize the economic potential of tapping into uncharted resources. But, as the continent’s energy industry grows, I believe that it is the people of Africa who must, and will, benefit the most.
But don’t just take my word for it—consider these choice words from the Fourth China-WTO Accessions Roundtable in Nairobi in December 2015: “We believe that tackling barriers to intra-African trade can have disproportionate, positive effects on the poorest people. This makes greater African trade integration central to our own goal of ending poverty by 2030, and to the aspirations of African governments and communities.”20
Would you believe that Africa is actually the site of the world’s first commercial LNG liquefaction plant? It might be hard to imagine, given that the continent is behind much of the producing world when it comes to LNG, but a plant in Arzew, Algeria, came online in 1964.21
Unfortunately, the resource didn’t quite take off in the beginning. But that’s changing.
LNG is becoming a priority for Africa’s emerging natural gas sector. This odorless, colorless, non-toxic, non-corrosive natural gas (predominantly methane with some portion of ethane) has been cooled to liquid form for ease of storage or transport—often by barge—to locations where pipelines are not practical or economical to build. Once LNG arrives at its destination, it is re-gasified and distributed, typically via pipeline.
“There is evidence throughout the continent that natural gas—more specifically, LNG—might be the answer, both to boost the African energy sector and to help individual countries improve their situations,” Guillaume Doane pointed out in our interview. “Africa has a large, vibrant and young population whose demand for cheap and reliable energy is growing faster than any other part of the world. African countries should be able to depend on one another for the supply of that energy. Fulfilling this promise requires courageous leaders who have the will to do what is necessary to ensure that no country on the continent is left behind in the quest for prosperity and energy security.”
Possibly one of the best examples Doane sees is Nigeria, which has a strong legacy as a long-time producer and exporter of LNG: “With the continent’s largest gas reserves, Nigeria is now positioning itself as also one of the biggest producers of natural gas for domestic use. It is taking a serious look at reducing gas flaring and utilizing its resources for power generation and local industry.”
As part of its goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its economy, South Africa is also undertaking an ambitious LNG-to-power project. The nation is currently in the bidding process to develop, finance, construct, and operate a 3,000 MW LNG-to-power plant. Regulatory delays and technical difficulties have caused a lag, but South Africa plans to use vessels offshore to receive, convert, and store the LNG it imports. Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, agreed to purchase the electricity generated by the plant.
Africa Oil & Power says that financing and development structures are make-or-break factors for LNG-to-power projects. That’s one reason South Africa (and others) have included floating storage and regasification facilities (FSRF) in their plans. At $300 to 500 million to build, these vessels cost about half as much as an onshore import terminal. In addition to reducing CAPEX, FSRF take only about two years to bring online, which means they shorten the overall project timeline considerably.
Elsewhere, Morocco is also considering the development of LNG import infrastructure, while Egypt has chartered two floating vessels for LNG storage. Investors in Ghana are considering funding a 1,300 MW LNG-to-power plant, which would lessen that country’s dependence on the often-unreliable West African Gas Pipeline.
Maybe most exciting of all is that the advancements aren’t just localized to nations with huge reserves.
In recent years, as LNG supply has increased and prices have fallen, LNG-to-power has been more broadly considered as an alternative solution for power generation. Since 2015, developments in LNG-to-power technologies have been a boon to African countries that lack their own supply of natural gas or don’t have an import pipeline in place. Among them is Mozambique, which has plans in place to develop 10 LNG trains that would consume about 70 percent of the current discovered resource base, according to the World Bank.
I’m encouraged by the outlook for LNG on our continent: Industry consultant Douglas-Westwood predicted that global spending on LNG facilities would rise by 88 percent by 2019, with $193 billion spent on liquefaction and shipping.22
Such industry growth represents a great opportunity for African countries with natural gas reserves, benefits that could easily extend to those countries’ people.
Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima agrees: “Investing in domestic gas use industrializes the country: it creates new industries, diversifies the economy, and creates much-needed jobs.”
Or, as the authors of “East Africa—Opportunities and Challenges for LNG in a New Frontier Region” noted, the income that deepwater LNG developments can generate for government—from job creation and taxes paid by employees to increased spending within local economies—could, in turn, drive even more employment and taxation.
“During the construction phase of an LNG project there could be 3,500 to 5,000 people directly engaged in building the plant; of these, some 80 percent would be skilled technicians to professional staff,” they wrote.23
Such benefits could be compounded if several important stakeholders would lead the charge in promoting intra-African trading. As I’ve mentioned in Chapter 3’s discussion of collaboration, it is vital for governments, indigenous companies, and continental consortia to band together. And we absolutely need African oil and gas traders, power producers, and industrialists to get on board.
Trading companies buy futures on the commodity market and lock in good prices for their customers, typically the refineries, utilities, or large office complexes with lots of spending power. To get the best deals for these customers, traders must keep their ears to the ground and not their heads in the sand. As a result, the traders have built sophisticated networks. They figured out long ago the importance of cross-border cooperation, and there is something to learn from them and their experiences.
Unfortunately, these traders can occasionally put a stranglehold on the market. We need to create a platform that requires some volume of natural gas to be set aside for African power projects. This is an absolute necessity for the sweeping industrialization required to gain the continent’s competitive edge in the global economy.
In my estimation, small-scale LNG is the solution.
The bad news is that this means breaking the iron-clad hold of the energy traders who control LNG trading. Overwhelmingly, the traders are against small-scale LNG because that would cut into their sales to preferred buyers in Europe, Asia, and America. Instead, they would need to find alternative funding schemes to pay for their equity in LNG or other gas projects.
Africa’s timeworn energy export strategy, perpetuated by our strong energy traders, is perhaps the biggest hold-up in gas-to-power development. We need policies that promote intra-Africa trading. True, some progress is being made with the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), which would increase intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022, remove tariffs on 90 percent of goods, and eliminate unnecessary delays at border posts and other hindrances to successful intra-African trading. Until very recently, red tape held up the ratification of this critical intra-Africa free trade agreement: It only took effect with the signatures from 22 of the 55 African Union members. The hesitancy of some of our nations proves the point that exporting to potentially better-paying markets is a greater priority to some than building up our domestic base. In April 2019, The Gambia became the 22nd country to sign the CFTA, allowing the initiative to move ahead.
Guillaume Doane believes that successful intra-African energy trading also is being held back by the lack of infrastructure and investment capital: “Africa has less oil and gas export infrastructure than any other region in the world. The continent needs more pipelines and more export/import facilities that would enable trade,” he said.
For smaller countries, the entire idea of developing appropriate gas-to-power infrastructure may seem forbidding. Because gas-fired plants are so efficient, they consume very low volumes of gas, which can make related gathering and inland transportation projects uneconomic. Creating a gas-to-power network doesn’t always make sense on a nation-by-nation basis; there just aren’t the economies of scale to support it, at least in terms of building the required upstream and midstream infrastructure.
But the fact is, even among the smallest economies, opportunity abounds.
Regional cross-border power cooperatives, with intra-regional generation hubs that also meet energy demands in neighboring countries, could be the answer across the continent. Host countries rich in natural gas could increase export revenues and develop crucial infrastructure, while their importing neighbors would have the electricity they need without having to build their own generating facilities. Everyone benefits!
“We believe this is an extremely viable solution for Africa: Countries with reliable access to fuels like LNG or propane can install enough generating capacity to meet their national needs as well as excess capacity that can be wheeled across the grid into neighboring power pool countries,” APR Energy’s Regional Sales Director Colm Quinn told African Review.24
To be fair, I should point out that Africa’s natural gas consumption is still small compared to the rest of the world—just 109.8 billion cubic meters (bcm), approximately 3,849 bscf, or 3.4 percent of the global total in 2011. To put it into perspective, it takes Africans a year to use as much electricity as Americans do in just three days,25 and average per-capita electricity consumption in the sub-Saharan regions is not enough to continuously power a single 50-watt light bulb.26 But the volume is growing. The continent’s gas consumption is rising about six percent a year, fueled by increased economic activity, infrastructure investments, and domestic price subsidies.
One chief obstacle to overcome in converting ample stores of natural gas into electricity is a lack of adequate gas transportation infrastructure to link fields with gas-to-power plants. Currently, aside from coastal Nigeria, there’s virtually no gas pipeline infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa.
But that might be changing as Nigeria negotiates to bring its gas resources to the continent’s coastal countries.
The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project, which will travel from the Nigerian border 841 kilometers (522 miles) to Algeria then 2,303 kilometers (1,431 miles) within the Algeria Gas Infrastructure pipeline, was finally approved in January 2017, some 8 years after the original agreement between Algeria and Nigeria was signed.27 And Nigeria’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is working to develop an offshore gas pipeline that will link Nigeria with Morocco and eventually benefit 11 sub-Saharan West African nations: Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania. The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline is expected to have very low per-unit transportation costs and should carry enough gas to generate 5,000 MW of electricity. As a result of new gas resources in Nigeria and Ghana, the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) says it would expand capacity from 170 mcf per day to 315 mcf per day.28
I’m not the only one with the desire for an energy-independent Africa—where African resources are used for the development of African nations and all her people, where all Africans have access to electricity generated in their homeland, and where all African nations cooperate to spur industrial development and create jobs.
In fact, 18 nations from all regions of the continent believe so much in the importance of banding together that they created the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO). What began in 1987 as a collaboration among a select few African oil-producing powerhouses has doubled in size and expanded to include smaller producers as well. The most recent entrant was Niger in 2012, whose fledgling industry holds boundless promise.
The efforts to organize were led by Nigeria—along with cohorts Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Libya—to begin moving toward energy independence, sustainable development, and economic diversification in Africa through cooperation in hydrocarbon research and technology.
To fulfill its mission, APPO set out these objectives:
Member Countries’ Cooperation: Increase cooperation among member countries and other global institutions in various sectors of the hydrocarbon industry.
African Energy Development: Develop regional markets and coordinate pan-continental energy integration strategies.
High-Level Studies and Partnerships: Provide education about the major challenges in the African energy sector.
Socioeconomic Development: Promote economic development and market diversity by focusing on local procurement, employment, and gender diversification in the energy industry.
Environmental Protection: Engage environmental protection and management policies.
International Best Practices: Adopt international best practices.
Organizational Visibility: Establish leadership energy matters within and beyond Africa.
Likewise, almost five years ago, Africa Oil & Power (AOP) came on the scene with much the same focus. In fact, Guillaume Doane co-founded the group as a platform to bring together “an elite class of ministers and senior-level government officials and top executives of private sector companies spanning the energy value chain, including upstream, downstream, engineering, construction, services, consulting, power generation, legal and finance.” The organization holds a series of government-endorsed country-specific conferences, as well as an annual all-Africa event, to promote networking and high-level discussion on all the issues concerning the African energy space.
A strong advocate of the “Africa First” movement in support of African countries maximizing their natural resources for the benefit and betterment of their people, AOP’s mission is to:
Enable investment in the African energy industry, the world’s most underexplored, underdeveloped, and overlooked region.
Empower indigenous companies on the continent by promoting leadership, national content, technology, and entrepreneurship.
Create engaging content experiences for the industry’s biggest power brokers.
I love the missions of these associations. But so far, it’s still not enough: APPO only accounts for a third of African countries, and AOP targets the elite dealmakers. We need to see more collaboration.
All African states have to put skin in the game. The big countries like Nigeria have to step up and show leadership—just like they did in getting APPO off and running. The energy companies need to bring in good lawyers and advisors who understand the market. And we all need to talk to each other and learn from one another.
That’s the kind of collaboration and advocacy I had in mind when I co-founded the African Energy Chamber (AEC) in early 2018.
The AEC initiative promotes opportunities for growth and expansion of indigenous African companies across the continent, from personnel training to community partnerships to relationship building. Within a short period, we have become the voice of the oil and gas sector in Africa. Our ultimate goal is to see African companies grow and take the lead in the development of their continent.
The AEC is the continent’s voice for ongoing change and progress in the African energy industry. From the robust regulatory reforms of Angola to the interest of the Republic of Congo in OPEC to the impressive local content strides taken by South Sudan, the AEC stands firmly with the re-emergence of Africa’s energy industry.29
I remain active with the chamber today and serve as its executive chairman, speaking and writing regularly on its behalf. In addition, several key colleagues who helped form the group still participate actively in our work. We are all deeply committed and believe strongly in our collaboration.
We know that our efforts are already making a difference.
In less than a year of existence, the group helped Equatorial Guinea—one of the continent’s biggest LNG exporters—execute memoranda of understanding that facilitated an LNG sales agreement with Ghana and negotiated LNG supply and construction of transport infrastructure with Burkina Faso. I expect that these concrete examples are just the start.
Another promising cooperative effort is LNG2Africa. This initiative brokers deals in the private sector, leading to inter-African sales and purchase agreements and creating opportunities for the development of this industry across the continent.
Perhaps more importantly, the initiative promotes collaboration and the sharing of knowledge among producers and consumers to facilitate best practices and foster infrastructure development. As the LNG2Africa website explains, “Through LNG2Africa, beneficiaries across the LNG value chain will exchange knowledge and data and will commission technical studies for the construction of regasification and LNG storage terminals and transportation infrastructure, either by pipeline or LNG carrier.”
Initiatives such as APPO, Africa Oil & Power, and LNG2Africa are helping establish a voice for our continent. Africa will yet affirm the IEA’s rhetorical question and prove that it is, indeed, the Golden Age of Natural Gas—and that natural gas will spur our own Golden Age of prosperity and achievement.
I’m confident that, if we work together to make sure that we use African gas for Africa first, Africa will indeed fill up our coffers.