Former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) Dr. Ben K.D. Asante has made a firm call for the establishment of an African Energy College at the just ended Forum for Oil and Gas in Africa (FOGA) in Luanda, Angola, receiving a thunderous applause from a diverse audience of energy practitioners.
The Forum for Oil and Gas in Africa, which brought together energy experts from around the world, deliberated on Gas Development and Energy Transition issues pertinent to the African Continent. The forum was under the auspices of the Global Gas Center, Petrofund, and African Local Content Focus Initiative (ALCFI).
As a key speaker at the forum, Dr. Asante highlighted the challenges that confront African countries in the development of their Oil and Gas resources, particularly in the push towards global de-carbonization of the world’s energy portfolio.
Recommending a framework for the development of the continent’s natural resources, the Oil and Gas expert enumerated a myriad of options including Local Financing for Projects and Building Local intellectual capacity for the sustainability of the industry.
“The proposed African Energy Bank is a great initiative, but Africa needs to build the requisite intellectual capital to sustain its Energy Industry, and to bridge the gap between academia and industry as well as minimize the life cycle cost of Energy Projects from the Design and Construction stages through Operations & Maintenance to Decommissioning. ”
He also suggested that building local capacity will ensure significant capital retention within Africa.
He also paid homage to Ghana Gas employees for the successful indigenization program, where local engineers and technicians took over the operations of the nation’s first Gas Processing Plant and associated pipeline infrastructure from their Chinese Counterparts in just 3 years.
In comparison, total indigenization in countries such as Nigeria and Trinidad & Tobago took over 50 years!
Asked how he intends to actualize this, Dr. Asante, who straddles both academia and industry, suggested a united approach.
“Having been in this industry for about 30 years in Canada, US, and Ghana it is clear that we need the participation of all the relevant stakeholders in this endeavor. This should include academic institutions, Local and Foreign subject matter experts, experts in the Diaspora, and selected Government institutions, to make this happen. ”
He envisages that there will be various Centers of Excellence or campuses for the proposed African Energy College in all participating countries.
On Africa’s role in the related Energy Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewables, Dr. Asante was also unequivocal.
“The transition from fossil fuels to renewables should begin within the fossil fuel family itself, based on their respective atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emission coefficient. Thus, from the family of three – Coal, Oil and Gas, we should transition from Coal first, then Oil and eventually Gas.
“This is a reflection of the stratification of their respective Carbon Count and Emission Density.”
He opined that Gas will undoubtedly be the transition fuel as African countries gravitate from Fossil Fuels to Renewables with unclear transition timetables, for its cost-effectiveness (about half the cost of liquid fuel) and atmospheric responsiveness (about 50% less CO2 emissions).
The Energy Expert also suggested that the Energy Transition program should consider the regional carbon footprint in the transition timetable.
Africa, he said, has about 18% of the world’s population but the Carbon Foot print of its 1.5 Billion inhabitants is only 4% compared to the rest of the world.
He also emphasized the need for Africa to utilize more of what it produces.
Africa contributes about 10% of the total world gas production, but accounts for only 5% of the world’s consumption.
“The difference between Africa’s 800 Tcf (Trillion cubic feet) of gas reserves and its current production of about 10 Tcf/year presents an opportunity for increase in Supply, but the disparity between its current Production and Local Consumption presents an opportunity for Development,” he stated.
But he admitted that there some challenges, particularly in the areas of Commodity Monetization & Security, as well as Financing and Infrastructure Assurance.
He discussed some of the challenges confronting key African gas production fields like the Zohr, West Nile Delta and Nooros in Egypt; the Hassir Mel, Rhourde Nou, Alrara, Tinhhert in Algeria; the Gbaran Ubie in Nigeria, the Soyo Project in Angola, Alba in Equatorial Guinea, and Wafa and Bahr Essalam in Libya.
The challenges he enumerated included lack of access to capital, inadequate requisite infrastructure, unattractive fiscal/tax regimes, unclear institutional and regulatory framework, lack of adequate intellectual capacity, inadequate local/private sector participation in the energy sector, and non-cost reflective delivered commodity price.
In spite of the challenges he suggested that Africa still has a great opportunity to establish its gas supply credentials to meet these challenges and the constraints imposed by global geopolitics.
