2023-08-11 22:07:09
In a televised address earlier this summer, South Africa’s Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe strongly opposed efforts by environmental groups to block oil and gas production in his country.
Even before his speech, Mr. Mantashe had advocated for an intensification of oil and gas production in South Africa, where several major discoveries have been made in recent years. Cumulative production from TotalEnergies’ Brulpadda and Luiperd natural gas discoveries, once exploited, is estimated at 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of liquids and 125,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). These discoveries offer immense opportunities for South Africa to strengthen its economy and energy security.
But if climate advocates have their way, South Africa will abandon the idea of producing oil and gas. Watch what’s happening with Shell Oil: Last year, environmentalists filed a lawsuit that stopped Britain’s Shell Oil from carrying out seismic tests along South Africa’s rugged coastline, which might put an end to Shell’s efforts to explore for hydrocarbons in this country.
Mantashe, however, draws a line in the sand. Speaking from Johannesburg, he insisted South Africa needed to balance emission reduction targets with the need to develop the country’s natural resources and improve access to electricity .
These statements have not gone down well with those who want the country to move away from fossil fuels. But for anyone, regardless of nationality, who argues that South Africa should not exploit its oil and gas resources, Mr. Mantashe’s remarks are a wake-up call.
“We can’t limit ourselves to decarbonization,” he said. “We need to tackle energy poverty. We must never allow ourselves to be surrounded by developed countries who fund lobbyists to pit our country’s development needs once morest their own environmental protection. Our country deserves the opportunity to transition at the pace and on the scale determined by its citizens.”
I completely agree.
mantashe is right
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) fully supports Minister Mantashe’s position. South Africa must use its natural resources to fight energy poverty and develop its economy, just like other countries on the continent.
As Executive Chairman of the ACS, I warned that a premature transition from fossil fuel generation to renewable energy would leave hundreds of millions of Africans literally in the dark.
Western environmental lobbies are wrong to prevent Africans from building a better future with their oil and gas resources, as the countries of origin of environmentalists have done. Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and green hydrogen will not be enough to fuel the industrialization of African countries. Nor will they be enough to address Africa’s massive energy poverty.
South Africa – and the African continent – should have the freedom to use all the resources at its disposal to provide reliable energy to its people.
Looking at our continent, energy poverty remains a pressing problem in 2023, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. According to World Bank data, electricity deprivation varies considerably from country to country: 10.7% of South Africans and 49.4% of all Sub-Saharan Africans are without electricity, that is a total of regarding 600 million people.
The contrast between sub-Saharan Africa and most of the world is so stark that this region can be seen in a nighttime NASA image.
That this region can be seen in a nighttime NASA photo as a strip of the southern globe shrouded in near-total darkness.
Energy poverty has adverse effects on health
While it is true that reducing greenhouse gases will be necessary everywhere in the world to avoid catastrophic climate change, one should not expect African countries to take these measures at the same pace as rich nations. Western. In sub-Saharan Africa, far too many people face the more pressing problem of air pollution – air pollution in their own homes – every time they are forced to find alternatives to electricity to make the kitchen.
The poorest cook and heat themselves with crop waste and animal excrement, while those who can afford it use charcoal. All of these fuels, burned over open fires or in crude stoves, release toxic chemicals and smoke, making indoor pollution far worse than outdoor levels found in the world’s most polluted cities.
I draw attention to this point in my new book ” A just transition: Addressing energy poverty through the energy mix in which I cite 1.5 to 4 million annual deaths worldwide – mostly among women and children – due to illnesses and accidents caused by the use of these fuels for cooking. Illnesses and injuries attributable to these fuels include burns, pneumonia, COPD and lung cancer. Children are injured before they are even born and the number of stillbirths is increasing.
Neither kerosene nor wood provide an answer. Kerosene fumes are linked to lung cancer, pneumonia, heart disease and other health problems, and kerosene lamps are a major cause of home fires. Even when wood is available, its use accelerates the decline of African forests and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
Even worse than indoor air pollution, the World Health Organization has named unsafe water, hygiene and sanitation as the greatest risk factor for environmental health and biggest cause of death on the African continent. Lack of access to drinking water affects approximately 45% of the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa. This problem is also linked to energy poverty, as the region lacks energy technologies to purify and distribute water.
Power shortages even pose a risk to people seeking treatment in a hospital or health facility in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 28% of them have a reliable power supply, so treatments sometimes have to be carried out without electric lights or modern equipment. Permanent storage of blood, drugs and vaccines under controlled climatic conditions is impossible.
Energy poverty has an impact on economic growth
Energy poverty not only poses a considerable risk to public health, but it also hampers the ability of African countries to provide better living conditions for their people.
Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa slowed to 3.6% in 2022 from 4.1% in 2021. It is expected to decline to 3.1% in 2023, highlighting the need to lift the region out of energy poverty . Of course, energy poverty is not the only factor at play, but it is an important factor.
Habitat for Humanity makes the connection clear by stating: “Insufficient energy generally results in the inability to develop agriculture and manufacturing, which keeps the poorest countries in a vicious circle: they have no ways to afford the energy that might lift them out of poverty. »
Even when electricity is available, it is expensive. A recent World Bank article found that consumers in sub-Saharan Africa pay as much as 20 to 50 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to the global average of around 10 cents.
“Most economic activities are impossible without adequate, reliable and competitively priced modern energy. This is why access to energy is so important in the fight once morest poverty,” the World Bank said.
For African industrial sectors to grow significantly, access to reliable and affordable energy is essential.
Natural gas must be part of the solution
As I said before, the oil sector has created more jobs and income in Africa than any other industry. It has made it possible to increase life expectancy, reduce infant and maternal mortality rates and fight once morest malaria.
Natural gas, in particular, promises to extend these improvements to the lives of millions more Africans: Gas-to-power programs can help bring electricity to more Africans, which would enable them to replace harmful cooking fuels, have access to clean water and reap the benefits of industrialization and economic growth.
As electrification progresses, solar, hydrogen and wind energy will become part of Africa’s energy mix. But increasing this mix – and building the infrastructure needed to transmit and store the renewable energy – will take time and capital. By monetizing the production of natural gas and using natural gas as a raw material for the manufacture of chemicals and fertilizers, African countries can generate part of the revenue needed to build this infrastructure and create more jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for their populations.
As I have said more than once, the combination of natural gas and renewables can help Africa transition to a sustainable future, with natural gas providing reliable and flexible power that complements intermittent renewables.
South Africa must use its natural gas
About 80% of South Africa’s electricity is produced by burning coal, but thanks to recent discoveries, the country has enormous natural gas potential.
This potential must not be thwarted by environmental groups blocking the exploration and production of oil and gas, as Minister Mantashe said so eloquently in his speech. The lawsuits brought once morest Shell must not create a precedent that would have repercussions on the exploitation of the Brulpadda and Luiperd deposits.
The sound and fury of Greenpeace and other anti-fossil fuel groups opposing the use of 3D seismic (sound waves) surveys to quickly locate and map oil and gas reserves is misplaced. Claiming damage to marine life, environmentalists cited a beached whale and dead fish that appeared on the shore during a seismic survey carried out by Shell before its orderly shutdown. However, as I have written, none of the extensive research conducted on the impact of seismic surveys on marine life, including fish and marine mammals, has revealed direct physical injuries or significant negative impacts of from a biological point of view.
Mantashe is right to defend the continuation of hydrocarbon exploration and production in his country. Natural gas can provide reliable, clean energy to South Africa, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports generate revenue that helps fund the country’s transition to renewable energy.
South Africa has charted the way forward in its integrated resource plan, which calls for technology generating 6,000 megawatts (MW) from combined cycle gas turbines, including 3,000 MW from LNG, 726 MW from gas and 1,500 MW from unspecified gas. This plan can make all the difference to the quality of life for many South Africans.
Given the above, the Western timeline for the transition to renewables cannot be South Africa’s, nor the continent’s.
I urge the international community, especially climate advocates, to respect Mr. Mantashe’s words: Environmental concerns must be balanced once morest the development of South Africa’s hydrocarbon resources. Until energy poverty is solved, reducing emissions cannot be the sole priority of any African country.
The theme of the 2023 ACS Africa Energy Week sums it up well: “African Energy Renaissance: Putting Energy Poverty, People, Planet and Free Markets First”.
By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber
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