Energy Transitioning Must Be Carefully Managed To Avoid Socio-Economic Consequences—Wunti

The Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services, Mr. Bala Wunti has said there is need for the push for energy transitioning to be carefully managed in order to avoid the socio-economic consequences experienced over the last one year.

Wunti stated this while featuring as the Keynote Speaker at the Energy Institute’s 2022 Energy Sustainability Conference themed “Africa: Driving a Sustainable Energy Future.”

He set the stage for the discourse on Africa’s Sustainable Energy Future stating that Energy transition must be balanced with energy security and that even in the next hundred years, fossil fuel will still be relevant.

Currently, energy supply is falling behind an increasing energy demand which is set to grow to 774 joules.

Even in the last COP 26, there was advocacy against fossil fuel and the call and threat to exit investment in hydrocarbons all galvanized against coal and the rest of them.

All these calls are done by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries without taking into consideration of the realities of developing and undeveloped countries like Africa.

Wunti stressed that though, Africa cumulatively contributes to three per cent of global emission, there is huge energy poverty across Sub-Saharan Africa as can be seen from the Economist Report. The Report stated that “over 50 per cent of Africans don’t have access to electricity and over 730 million Africans don’t have access to clean cooking fuel.”

The CUIO called for the decoupling and deglobalization of strategy towards attaining net zero by different regions in the world.

He further stressed that all forms of energy will be needed towards the accomplishment of the net zero objectives and that energy transition should be based on structured, scientific approach rather than emotion and idealism.

He argued further that technology should be the key enabler to achieving optimal combination of energy mix that will balance emissions aspiration without compromising energy security of nations.

In Nigeria, the CUIO stated that the use of natural gas in meeting domestic and export aspiration is a key focus of NNPC Ltd, adding that this is in line with the government’s objective of the decade of gas.

To complement the utilisation of gas, he said the upstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is rebranding itself towards enhanced gas production, monetization and flare elimination as a means of reducing carbon emissions in the country.

To achieve this, the 5R Strategy – Rebrand the organization to emphasize focus on environmental sustainability, Replant trees, Renew energy production infrastructure, Reduce emissions leveraging on technology and innovation; and Replace high carbon fuel systems with low carbon alternatives – is now the focus of all the upstream players.

Considering that even in the next 50 years, hydrocarbon fuel will constitute over 50 per cent of the global energy mix, noting that investment must therefore be intensified in order to produce enough energy to meet the growing demand.

He cautioned that denial of investment capital to hydrocarbon infrastructure must be stopped to avoid creating social crisis as have been seen in the last one year.

He stated further that there should not be only one approach but several approaches to achieving Net Zero using science and technology.

He concluded by saying regions and countries should be allowed the freedom to adopt customized approaches in line with their realities.