Luanda - The materialization of the energy transition strategy on the continent depends on the resilience of the businesses and opportunities created by the oil sector, said Monday, in Luanda, the Chairman of the public company Sonangol’s Board of Directors, Sebastião Martins.
Speaking at the 3rd meeting of Executives of the National Oil Companies (NOC) of member countries of the Organization of African Petroleum Producing Countries (APPO), he underlined that the energy transition is unavoidable due to its relevance and safeguarding the continuity of nations. Sebastião Martins said that APPO should promote collaboration and the creation of partnerships, with oil as the catalyst for energy security, sustainable development and economic diversification in Africa.
According to the C.E.O of the Angolan state oil company, the organization is responsible for promoting and exploring cooperation opportunities, a commitment that must be demonstrated by the commitment to materializing and fulfilling all the items on the agenda.
He went on to stress that the materialization must be the basis for the establishment of action plans, aligned with the strategy of
safeguarding energy security, increasingly looking for new business opportunities in the region, in order to ensure the much-desired autonomy of the continent.
On the other hand, CEO of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corperation (NNPC), Mele Kolo Kyari, defended the need to make businesses in the sector increasingly cleaner, reducing emissions, in line with reality.
In his opinion, APPO is a platform where they can discuss the best steps for the continent's oil industry.
He assured that Nigeria will continue to collaborate to achieve the objectives, taking into account the need to share experience between countries.
Nigeria has extensive experience in promoting small businesses, in the oil sector, he emphasized, adding that his country will be able to share the experience.
The representative of the secretary general of APPO, Taher Najah, believes that the solutions to the challenges facing the African oil and gas industry, through the process of global energy transition, cannot be faced in isolation by countries.
He recalled that APPO requested a study, having identified three main areas for the global energy transition (finance, technology and market), which focuses on the eminent threats to the oil and gas industry on the continent.
Citing the study, he made it known that almost all oil and gas producing countries on the continent rely heavily on foreign funding
for oil and gas projects.
According to him, the agreement signed between APPO and Afreximbank will make it possible to make available US$6 billion for the portfolio of projects in the oil and gas sector.
The 3rd APPO NOC meeting, in addition to addressing the outcome of the 2nd meeting, held on 19 July
of this year in Abuja, Nigeria, addresses issues related to financing options for oil and gas projects and operations, infrastructure cross-border structures and regional markets.
APPO member countries' NOCs are reviewing the organization's long-term strategy and discussing the creation of a fund to leverage the African oil industry.
APPO was created on January 27, 1987, in Lagos, Nigeria, to serve as a platform for cooperation and coordination of efforts, collaboration, sharing of knowledge and skills among African oil producing countries.
