Energy, Oil & Gas
With the heightened calls for more suitable source of energy to serve the growing world population without destroying the already depleting ozone layer, it is becoming clearer that many developing countries will look inwards while focusing on their available energy advantages.
By Anthony Isibor
MANY countries in their quest for a more suitable energy needs have realized that a total abandonment of fossil fuel would almost be impossible and this has led to the change of the slogan; Energy Swap’ to ‘Energy Mix’. For example, Nigeria and some African countries have chosen gas as their future energy transition mix even as they look for more suitable means of reducing carbon emissions.
This search for a cleaner energy and source for its funding made it the focus of the just concluded Nigerian International Energy Summit tagged ‘’Global Perspectives for a Sustainable Energy Future’’.
During the energy summit, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German-Nigerian Hydrogen Office, financed by the Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), hosted an event titled “Low-Carbon Hydrogen: A Key Piece for a Just Transition” within the framework of the 6th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2023).
Annett GÜNTHER, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Nigeria in her welcome address, stated that “it has been two years now since the Nigerian International “Petroleum Summit” was re-branded as “Energy Summit”, thus reflecting a crucial change in its outlook and in the increased attention it gives to non-traditional sources of energy. There could be no better way to illustrate this process than a discussion that is clearly moving from oil to gas, and from gas to Hydrogen and other green and renewable energy sources”.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ambassador Gabriel ADUDA, in his keynote address, emphasized how low-carbon hydrogen fits into the theme of this year’s edition of the NIES (Global Perspectives for a Sustainable Energy Future), which was motivated by the foreseen changes in the fossil fuel segment as the world pursues the energy transition agenda. Assuring that Nigeria is keen on exploring the possibilities that the nascent hydrogen economy could create for its energy sector.
In an Interview with Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of finance, economy and planning, Equatorial Guinea, he noted unequivocally that Africa is not ready to abandon its oil and gas resources.
He said that despite only contributing less than 3% to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, global actors continue to call for Africa to abandon its oil and gas resources.
“While we recognize the impacts of climate change – Africa actually faces some of the harshest impacts – abandoning oil and gas is not the solution to reducing emissions. Rather, oil and gas producers have a critical role to play through the adoption of sustainable practices.
“Going forward, as Africa continues to maximize its hydrocarbon resources in pursuit of alleviating energy poverty and industrializing the continent, priority will be placed on sustainability and environmental protection, so that the energy transition is just while economic growth is accelerated,” he said.
Lima also advocated for accelerating the development of regional systems such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, the Central African Pipeline System, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline System, as well as a wide range of refinery and gas-to-power plants.
“By maximizing intra-Africa trade and regional cooperation across the oil and gas sector, Africa has the opportunity to achieve energy security and economic prosperity. The development of refineries will enable the continent to process and distribute its own refined products, reducing imports and scaling up fuel security, while the construction of large-scale oil and gas receiving terminals will advance intra-African trade across the liquefied natural gas and associated sectors,” he said.
Mark Mills, a senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Prager University was more straightforward about his analysis of the impossibility of a complete abandonment of Fossil fuel when he asked developing countries to wake up.
According to him, while we can’t predict the future, there will be more innovation in robotics drones, quantum computing, biotechnology and new industries not yet imagined. All of which will require more energy, a lot more fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and yes, renewable will be required. ‘But if you think we can get it all from wind and solar, dream on.’
Mills said that the call is only a dream, because the reality is that oil, natural gas and coal provide 84% of all the global energy, and it has only been 2% down from 20 years ago.
He said that contrary to headlines claiming that we are rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels, it is just not happening because oil still powers nearly 97% of all global transportation.
He explained that to get the same amount of energy from solar and wind that we now get from fossil fuels we are going to have to massively increase mining by more than 1000%.
“This is not speculation, this is physics. Copper, iron ore, silicon zinc, Nickel, chromium, cobalt, lithium, graphite, in rare earth metals like neodymium, we need all, and then those metals and materials have to be turned into motors, turbine blades, solar panels, batteries and hundreds of other industrial components that also take lots of energy which require even more mining.
“Until now, it hasn’t really mattered that much, because wind and solar still accounts for only a few percentage points of the global energy supply. They are an applause line for environmentalists not a major energy player, and it is unlikely they will be in the foreseeable future. But for the sake of argument, lets say we sharply wrap up mining, where will these new mines be located?
Mills also revealed that proposal to build mines in the United States and increasingly almost everywhere else meets fierce opposition if not outright ban.
“To give just one example, in 2022, the Biden administration cancelled a proposed copper nickel mine in northern Minnesota after years of delay, navigating a maze of environmental regulations by the same environmentalists and green leading politicians who tout all the benefits of electric cars are the same people make mining the material essential to build those cars (like copper, nickel) all but impossible.
“So far, we have only talked about today’s energy needs, what about tomorrows.
“Future energy demand will be far greater than todays. That has been true for the entire history of civilization. The future will not only have more people, it will have more innovations.
“Entrepreneurs have always been better at inventing new ways to use energy than to produce it. It is obvious both worth stating; before the invention of automobiles, aero planes, pharmaceuticals, or computers, there was no energy needed to power them. And as more people become more prosperous, they will want the things others already have. From better medical care, to vacation, to cars.
“In America there are about 80 cars for every hundred citizens, in most of the world, it’s about 5 per hundred citizens.
“Over 80% of air travels for personal purposes. That’s 2 billion barrels of oil a year, hospitals use 250% energy per square foot than an average commercial building, and the global information infrastructure; the cloud, already uses twice as much electricity as the entire country of Japan which is the world’s third largest economy.
“The massive data center at the heart of the cloud alone consumes almost 10 times more electricity than the world’s 10 million electric cars.
“E-commerce is taken off in its propelling record growth in warehouses increasingly filled with energy hungry robots.
“America’s truck freight index more than doubled in the past decade to deliver the goods to and from the warehouses. These are today’s known trends.
The call for a cleaner energy was also one of the major focus at the just concluded G7 Summit. According to media reports, the allies met recently for two days of “difficult” climate talks in northern Japan, facing pressure to show progress on key fossil fuel commitments in an example to other major economies, including China.
There have also been intensified campaigners to warn climate and environment ministers from the leading developed countries against reneging on its pledges to shift away from coal and natural gas at home and abroad.
It is also important to note that a major UN climate report warned recently that 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming would be seen in about a decade and called for “rapid and far-reaching” action to keep increases within relatively safe limits.
However, as the energy crisis sparked by the Ukraine war squeezes G7 countries, including Japan, Germany and the United States, divisions have arisen among the bloc.
A French government energy transition minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher, hailed “significant progress” in a joint statement, which she said has sent “positive signals.”
“For the first time ever, the G7 said that we must accelerate the ‘phasing out’ of all unabated fossil fuels,” and that there should be no more new coal-fired power plants, Pannier-Runacher told reporters.
While the world is becoming more recipient to Africa’s choice of gas as her transition energy, another major concern is the coal controversy.
Japan for example had sought G7 recognition for its controversial strategy of burning hydrogen and ammonia alongside fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions — which climate activists say only serves to extend the lifespan of polluting plants.
The draft statement simply notes that “some countries are exploring” the potential of the two fuels in the journey to net-zero emissions, adding that this should be “aligned with a 1.5C pathway”.
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Tags: Annett GÜNTHER Anthony Isibor Gabriel Aduda Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima Mark Mills
