In Africa, nature is redistributing the cards in terms of possession of gas reserves, predicts the Global Energy Monitor, which indicates that many new pre-production deposits are being identified in countries that have not historically exploited fossil fuels. Morocco is one of them and would even become a gas exporter, particularly to Europe.
It is no longer a dream but a reality; Morocco will be among the gas producing countries, indicates in a report published this month of February 2023, Global Energy Monitor (GEM). The Global Oil and Gas Extraction Tracker (Goget), its branch specializing in the identification of potential deposits in the four corners of the world, has data on 421 extraction projects, with 79 fields in the pre-production phase. While the continent’s traditional gas producing countries are Nigeria, Egypt, Libya and Algeria, which have had significant reserves and are among the largest gas producers to date, Goget’s data shows that 84% of new pre-production reserves are located in new entrants to the gas market in Africa: Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Mauritania, South Africa, Ethiopia and Morocco.
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These new reserves total over 5137.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), with potential emissions equivalent to around 11.9 billion tonnes of CO2, with production from many of these fields facing opposition due to impacts potential on ecosystems and local communities. These countries are expected to drive gas development volumes in the near term, with “Mozambique, Mauritania, Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia accounting for more than half of Africa’s gas production by 2038”.
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If industry foresees this wave of new gas fields and extraction projects are authorized, Africa’s gas production will increase by a third by 2030. New investment estimated at 329 billion US dollars will then be needed for the development of gas extraction and export infrastructure.
