LNG, Solar Power to Electrify Africa by 2020 - BDO predicts

Mon, Dec 11, 2017 | By publisher


Power

 

BDO on Monday, December 11, published its 2020 Oil and Gas predictions report warning about four great global signposts disrupting national and corporate energy strategies.

First, it warned “against a new hacking strategy, ‘phlashing’ that turns smart grids against themselves, taking a nation’s energy infrastructure hostage.”

According to the report, by 2020, the United Kingdom, UK, would go “virtually ‘off grid’, becoming energy self-sufficient through its substantial shale gas reserves.

Besides, it said: “Controversy around Theresa May’s 2016 approval of the Hinkley Point power facility deal with China and France being a precursor to this new course, the UK government, spotting the gas potential at present offers tax breaks to shale-gas producers.”

In the same vein, BDO said by 2020, liquefied natural gas, LNG, imports and solar power would bring electricity to four in five African people because African nations would be combining LNG and solar power to break grid dependency. “Africa presents an opportunity for LNG producers to find new sources of demand and LNG import facilities in Ghana and South Africa are under construction. Foreign solar companies have taken to installing solar microgrids and home-based solar systems across sub-Saharan Africa,” the report said.

“By 2020, all oil will be nano-marked, proof-of-origin tested to avoid contravening international sanctions. Emphasis on ethical sourcing along with sanctions such as those in place on North Korea and Qatar, will lead to ‘proof of origin’ testing. A secure, complex method of identifying oil will be the key enabler, with nano technologies such as graphene quantum dots already being used to trace shipments. A specific spectrum can assign the nano markers to a particular well or producer. BDO predicts that tracing results will be part of the audit of production sharing contracts,” it said.

The report further warned that by 2020, “at least five countries will see their national energy grid be taken offline by Permanent Denial of Service attacks, PDoS, a new type of cyber attack. Known as “phlashing” PDoS attacks differ from DDoS attacks in that they target an embedded system instead of using a botnet, which makes it particularly worrisome considering the present establishment of smart grids.

“New data indicates that while the number of DDoS attacks decreased 18% in 2017, the average number of attacks per target increased by 19%. Cybercriminals’ raise their game and are eager to leverage the advent of two-way smart grids to achieve a domino effect of black-outs in the nation-critical areas of healthcare, transportation, security and financial services.

BDO’s 2020 predictions report closed its global prognosis some developments to expect from Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

It said; “In Canada, by 2020, new accounting rules will be required to respond to new challenges for financial planning, forecasts, and asset management, as oil & gas companies increasingly leverage cloud computing. The US will overtake Australia and Qatar by 2020 to become the number one LNG exporter, discussions about constructing a natural gas pipeline to central America through Mexico standing central in the 2020 presidential elections.

“In the Middle East, Saudi Aramco will step up the use of local goods, services, and labour, reaching 70 percent localization by the end of 2020, and substitute oil and gas with solar power. By 2020, the UK will be the world’s fracking capital, having developed the most robust planning, licensing, and operating regime for fracking in the world.”

 

–  Dec 11, 2017 @ 15:16 GMT |

 

 

 

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