Government of Ghana says it is committed striving to canvass coherent arguments in the wake of the global energy transition advocacy to avoid the country’s hydrocarbon assets from being stranded.
The effects of the transition, ranging from revenue losses, underinvestment in hydrocarbons and the huge cost of adjustment, will only deepen the already existing schism and further ensure that Africa is left behind the rest of the world.
A Deputy Energy Minister has said even though Africa is the least emitter, it is certainly going to suffer the grave consequences of the transition.This, he described as unfair, inequitable and unjust.
“Our governments have, therefore, been looking for options to generate oil and gas wealth and to improve on the management of this wealth through good governance to support our development efforts. Oil and gas resources have, therefore, been viewed today as a ‘shot in the arm’ promising prosperity”, Mohammed Amin Adam said when speaking at the “Around the world series” programme on the margins of the 2022 Offshore Technology Conference on the theme, “West Africa’s Oil and Gas in search of investment in the wake of Energy transition” in HoustonTexas, USA.
“The unfortunate realities in several West African countries, particularly in the resource-rich areas is the fact that the standard of living of the people is normally not commensurate with the wealth of resources extracted, leading to social and political agitation in several instances.”
In the wake of the above, Dr Amin Adam argued that efforts to push Africa into the transition corner at the same pace as the West, is not just counter-productive but an affront to the concept of global development.
He said Europe is looking for new gas suppliers due to geopolitics and the desire for energy independence from Russia and indicated that Africa holds significant levels of undeveloped oil and gas reserves, which could prove strategic for European countries compared with US gas, given the proximity to Europe.
He canvassed, therefore, that investments in Africa could provide answers to Europe’s gas demand of between 150-190 billion cubic metres annually that Russia has usually supplied.
The deputy minister said Ghana wants to own the process and to transition at its own pace, thus, to this end, the government of Ghana has established a National Energy Transition Committee to develop the energy transition policy and strategy to guide our steps towards a net-zero future.
“We want to continue oil and gas production, scale-up renewable energy, integrate nuclear energy in our energy mix and in future produce blue and white hydrogen,” he noted.
