March 19, 2019//-There is no doubt that Africa is a resource rich, yet under exploited region for both oil and gas.
The BP Statistical Review reported that 90 per cent of African gas production continues to come from Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and Libya though the overall quantity produced in 2016 reduced by 1.1 per cent down to 208.3 bcm. As a result of the decrease in production and some additional discoveries, we have seen the years of available natural gas production go up from 66.4 to 68.4.
According to Robert O’Keeffe of DNV GL, gas is becoming more important in the energy mix in Africa. “Gas is more important on a global scale, and Africa is increasingly becoming a source for, and customer of, that gas whereas in the past the greater focus has been on oil exports,” he said.
“Gas as a source of energy is significantly less harmful in terms of CO2 emissions than oil or coal therefore government policy should support it to become a greater share of the energy mix if we wish to avoid excessive climate change.”
This is reinforced by the UN Sustainability Goals that underpin business and government policy thinking on any activity. Sustainable development is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.
The increased importance of gas to Africa is bolstered by the size and scale of the gas find on the east coast. “The Mozambicans, for example, have decided on a fairly large domestic gas obligation that says that 25 per cent of its gas needs to find a home and a market locally,” Chris Bredenhann, Africa oil and gas advisory leader, at PwC, explained.
As for the operators, they are already focused on gas. BP’s stated policy has been for some time to make a shift to gas and what they call advantaged oil. This is driven by their belief that there is a cap on the oil price that is set by US shale and the resource rich countries in the Middle East.
Africa Oil Week