Angola will preside over the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) in 2022, tasked with representing the oil and gas exploration countries, which are also dealing with the transition to renewable energies.
At its 41st Ministerial Session held in Algeria, by video conference, the APPO Council of Ministers unanimously elected Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, Minister of Petroleum Resources of Angola, as President for 2022.
Samou Seidou Adambi, Minister of Water and Mines of Benin, will be the Vice President while Chairman will be Celestin Enanto, Executive Board Member for Benin.
According to APPO, the meeting ended “with a resolve to continue the exploitation of its member countries’ huge oil and gas resources for the economic emancipation of its people while also exploring the use of renewable energies”.
Top on the agenda of the ministerial discussions was the future of the oil and gas industry in Africa in the light of the global pursuit of energy transition, with ministers acknowledging the reality of climate change and expressing their support for any human efforts aimed at tackling its dangers.
“The session noted that the current approach to energy transition is unilateral imposition where the developed countries that have for over 100 years used fossil fuels to grow their economies and societies and have all along been aware of the dangers of fossil fuel emissions, are now telling the world that fossil fuels are dangerous to mankind and that all should abandon it”.
The ministers noted that this aggressive drive for energy transition is coming at a time that African economies are poised to launch themselves into industrialisation, which requires a lot of energy, whereas the economies of the developed countries now require less energy because of their transformation from manufacturing to knowledge production and artificial intelligence.
The ministers identified the imminent challenges that the oil and gas industry will face in Africa as international financiers withdraw funding for the industry, and oil and gas research institutions in the developed countries that have always led the technological development are closing their petroleum facilities.
On financing energy projects on the continent, the council resolved to look within the continent at both public and private sources to raise the necessary capital to continue to finance the oil and gas industry. They agreed that Africa needs to “re-strategise as the game is fast changing”.
Furthermore, the council called on the technologically advanced and financially capable countries to lend their support to African countries as they grapple with the challenges of energy transition.
The next Ordinary Session of the Ministerial Council will be held in Angola during the last quarter of 2022, CLBrief reported.
