Nigeria Focused On Fixing Africa’s Energy Supply Gap In Sustainable, Climate Friendly Manner–Kyari

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari, has said that the Corporation is more focused on bridging Africa’s energy supply gap than putting more effort on Carbon Capture and Storage activities.

He stated that the Corporation is already working towards containing the country’s emission levels using technology.

Kyari made the disclosure on Tuesday at a Strategic Panel discussion on the net zero business model: delivering innovation and value creation in the upstream sector held in the United Arab Emirates.

The programme was held to discuss “the impact of new technology, shifts in government policy, and the different needs and specific energy solutions that are required to succeed in the emerging global energy ecosystem.”

The event is coming after the CO26 where world leaders met to discuss climate change issues.

Kyari who said there is no need for carbon storage activities amidst energy shortage in Africa, explained further, “The fact is many of our reservoirs, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, get very depleted and the meaning of this is the spaces being created and you can actually use them for storing carbon.

“But what is also very critical is that even as you do this, you know you have a very wide space around demand for energy and our ability to provide even in this context, I mean, the best efforts today were going to supply energy in most African and sub-Saharan African countries.

“So you really do have an immediate challenge of actually getting that energy supply gap.”

He said when Nigeria has been able to bridge the gap, the next step would be carbon storage with the help of technology.

He said, “The emission level from our businesses can clearly be contained by technology and therefore going forward, it’s critical to see that we are actually on one step zero for most of Saharan African countries.

“So you can tap from the good fortune, which is that you can put better technology, less emissions and then of course, less your carbon footprint of activity.

“So I think countries in Africa in particular, I believe that it would be that position to roll to this net zero activity from the imposition of a new technology that  you probably wouldn’t have any need for.

“Obviously the necessity for  putting them back in the reservoir may not really materialise in the short term.”

He stated further that oil producers like Nigeria are taking practical steps in tackling the realities in  Sub-Saharan Africa where  70 per cent of the population do not have access to power and electricity.

He added, “We do have issues around poverty which of course have linkage with the provision of energy and security.

“What companies do, like our own, is to see the realities surrounding us to see what is the best way for us to go.”

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