Biofuel opportunities amid climate protest
AFRICA Oil Week, which began with anti-pollution protesters spilling fake blood and oil on the floor of the conference venue ended with placard-waving climate change protesters clad in red outfits picketing at the entrance to the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
On Friday Michael Wolf, spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion, the group behind the protests, said: “This conference brings together international corporations, governments, investors and lobbyists, who – despite the global ecological crisis – continue to value profit over both people and the planet. The delegates who attend this conference are climate criminals.”
Wolf said they took action again at the closing of the conference because neither Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe nor Premier Alan Winde “had adequately responded to the letter of demand we sent them”. The oil barons from across Africa who met at the conference don’t seem to have been bothered by the protests, and used the event in Cape Town to promote their oil and gas sectors to a global audience of investors, suppliers and other key stakeholders.
Angola’s newly formed national oil, gas and biofuels agency announced it had formed a consortium with five international oil companies and that the consortium’s project, costing an initial $2 billion (R29.7bn), is expected to start production by 2022.
The chairperson of Mozambique’s upstream regulator, Carlos Zacarias, announced that the country’s longawaited sixth licensing round is due to be launched early next year.
Somali’s petroleum and mineral resources minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed said his country had embarked on a path to transform Somalia’s petroleum industry and attract the attention of new investors and Equatorial Guinea’s oil minister,
Obiang Lima, said that his country would award seven to eight blocks from its current licensing round at the end of November.
Meanwhile, on the fringes of the conference chairperson of the African Energy Chamber NJ Ayuk launched his second book, Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing Deals at a cocktail party on Wednesday night. In his book, Ayuk places the energy sector at the centre of the continent’s economic growth, and argues that the oil and gas sector is well-positioned to turn the African narrative around.
“Billions At Play is a roadmap for Africans to build an inclusive future. It articulates the voices and aspirations of millions of Africans and reflects the best of what our oil and gas industry and its leaders can do for our continent,” the author said.