Minister of State for Petroleum resources, Chief Timipre Sylva
Energy Transition: Africa must address funding, technology, other limitations in oil and gas industry-Sylva
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has said that Africa must address funding, technology and other limitations in the oil and gas industry in order to attain energy security and in-continent value addition.
The minister who at the African Local Content Investment Forum, Eko Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria, 7th March 2022 was represented by Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Nasir Gwarzo.
Sylva listed some of the limitations as, “dearth of funds to finance its oil and gas sector projects; limitations in technology mastery to manage the oil and gas industry; high-end skills gap; inadequate energy infrastructure to sustain oil and gas industry operations; undeveloped internal market for hydrocarbon derivatives and overdependence on sale of crude oil for foreign exchange and budget financing.”
He said Africa’s energy transition should be anchored on maximising fossil fuels (gas) utilisation and investment in renewable energy projects.
With over 600 million people living without access to modern energy, the minister said Africa’s energy demand in 2035 would be 40 per cent higher than it is today, compared to 10 per cent higher for global energy demand. The minister said this growth would be driven by industrialisation, population and expansion in economic activities.
The event, which was organised for Africa to develop a robust response against the push for Africa to abandon the use of its hydro carbon resources, especially as African countries continue to discover crude oil, to kick start a development framework for the establishment of a poll of fund for funding major oil and gas projects and the attraction of investors into their countries, to further deepen discussions on the subject and agree on the way forward, as well as to propose some ideas to enhance continental collaboration and global support for ‘our natural recourses’, was attended by major oil stakeholders, experts in finance, investment, international trade as well as some beneficiaries of the Project 100.
Another key speaker at the event was Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board has described pegging a fixed date for the end of the production and use of hydrocarbon by European and developed countries as a declaration of war.
Wabote noted that fossil fuel, which has largely contributed to the development that the world is witnessing today must not be castigated into extinction.
