Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has asserted that African countries endowed with oil and gas are yet to reap the full harvest these resources provide.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh made the comments on Friday, September 23, 2022, at the official opening of the inaugural Houston Africa Energy Summit last week, where he joined Heads of States, colleague Ministers and Senior Executives of international oil and gas companies for a round- table discussion at the Julia Ideson Library in Houston.
The round-table discussion, hosted by Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, enabled discussions on Africa’s hydrocarbon industry exploration and expansion, the challenges of African countries’ securing funding and investment, and what African countries can do to attract big oil and gas companies to exploit resources for mutual benefit.
Touching on the subject of decarbonization (the reduction of carbon), Ghana’s Energy Minister remarked that “Africans are yet to enjoy the benefits of their oil and gas resources.”
He proposed that “we are going to mindfully engage in cleaner ways of exploiting the hydrocarbons, with assistance from carbon capture technologies” as a way to rectify the anomaly.
“As African energy decision makers, I am hopeful that we shall all, in the interest of our respective citizens, derive maximum economic benefits from our God-given resources,” the minister added.
As of 2021, Nigeria was the leading oil producer in Africa, according to Statista.com. Oil production amounted to roughly 78 million metric tons in the country.
Libya, Algeria, and Angola followed, each with an output above 50 million metric tons.
In the same year, the overall production of oil in Africa, including crude oil, shale oil, oil sands, and NGLs, reached 345 million metric tons, 4.5 percent more than in 2020.
Also, reports by Statista.com reveal that in the first quarter of 2022, Ghana’s revenue from oil amounted to around 984 billion Ghanaian cedis (GHS), roughly 117.5 million U.S. dollars.
Meanwhile, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh believes that the recent energy transition conversation presents enormous opportunities to investors within Africa’s energy value chain, especially as “we aim to embark on a rigorous gas monetization drive.”
He revealed that currently, Ghana is working to win investors to check out the country’s Exploration & Production (E&P) acreages and farm-in opportunities, as well as the numerous opportunities in the power sector.
The West African country is also looking at a National Energy
Transition Plan to reduce carbon emissions.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh is expected to bring a fresh perspective to the table as the Summit enabled world leaders to discuss renewable power generation and various innovations including carbon capture and storage, all within the overarching context of the current energy transition.
Source: The Independent Ghana