The Vice-President of the Transition, Joseph Owondault Berre, officially opened Wednesday in Libreville the 4th edition of the Central Africa Business Energy Forum (CABEF) whose work ends on Friday.
The Prime Minister, Raymond Ndong Sima and several members of the Gabonese government including that of Oil and Gas, Marcel Abeké participated in the opening ceremony.
The theme of this edition, which brings together several experts and representatives of oil companies, is “natural gas as the key to the industrialization and economic acceleration of Central Africa, via effective sub-regional institutional integration”.
The gas pipeline project to connect all the member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) is at the heart of the Libreville discussions. Called CAPS, that is to say Central Africa pipeline system, this project aims to develop the gas reserves of Central Africa, transform them into energy necessary for the development and improvement of the living conditions of the populations thanks to secure access to electricity.
CAPS then aims to transport this gas via the regional gas pipeline to countries that do not have it. The challenge to take up in Libreville is to find partners to finance the infrastructure needed to get this gas out of production areas and towards consumers.
The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) has validated the pre-study relating to the implementation of the CAPS. This phase is considered decisive for the rest of the project, according to an expert.
In host country Gabon, the gas industry was launched 30 years ago. The priority has always been the exploitation of oil, which represents 71% of the country’s exports.
Gabon currently has two factories that operate on gas for energy production. One in Libreville and another in Port-Gentil.
The country which produces around 60% of gas consumed in households dreams of becoming a gas exporter by 2027 or 2028, said the Minister of Oil and Gas, Marcel Abéké in his opening speech.
The 4th edition of CABEF takes place in the post-COP28 Conference context in Dubai, which recommended a transition towards non-fossil energies with the objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. It comes after that of Congo-Brazzaville in 2021, Cameroon in 2022 and Chad in 2023.
Marie Dorothée
2024-10-23 23:43:00
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