The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas), Dr. Ben K.D. Asante, made a compelling call for the establishment of an African Energy College at the recently concluded Forum for Oil and Gas in Africa (FOGA) in Luanda, Angola, earning thunderous applause from a diverse audience of energy practitioners.
The Forum for Oil and Gas in Africa, which convened energy experts from around the world, deliberated on gas development and energy transition issues pertinent to the African continent. The forum was held under the auspices of the Global Gas Centre, Petrofund, and African Local Content Focus Initiative (ALCFI).
As a key speaker at the forum, Dr. Asante highlighted the challenges confronting African countries in developing their oil and gas resources, particularly amidst the global push towards decarbonisation of the world’s energy portfolio.
Recommending a framework for the development of the continent’s natural resources, the oil and gas expert outlined numerous options, including local financing for projects and building local intellectual capacity to ensure the sustainability of the industry.
“The proposed African Energy Bank is a commendable initiative, but Africa must build the requisite intellectual capital to sustain its energy industry, bridge the gap between academia and industry, and minimise the life cycle cost of energy projects from design and construction through operations and maintenance to decommissioning,” he stated.
He also suggested that building local capacity would ensure significant capital retention within Africa.
Dr. Asante paid homage to Ghana Gas employees for their successful indigenisation programme, where local engineers and technicians took over the operations of the nation’s first gas processing plant and associated pipeline infrastructure from their Chinese counterparts in just three years.
In comparison, total indigenisation in countries such as Nigeria and Trinidad & Tobago took over 50 years.
When asked how he intends to actualise this vision, Dr. Asante, who straddles both academia and industry, advocated for a united approach.
“Having been in this industry for about 30 years in Canada, the US, and Ghana, it is clear that we need the participation of all relevant stakeholders in this endeavour. This should include academic institutions, local and foreign subject matter experts, experts in the diaspora, and selected government institutions to make this happen,” he said.
He envisages various Centres of Excellence or campuses for the proposed African Energy College in all participating countries.
On Africa’s role in the related energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables, Dr. Asante was unequivocal.
“The transition from fossil fuels to renewables should begin within the fossil fuel family itself, based on their respective atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emission coefficients. Thus, from the family of three—coal, oil, and gas—we should transition from coal first, then oil, and eventually gas. This reflects the stratification of their respective carbon count and emission density,” he explained.
He opined that gas will undoubtedly be the transition fuel as African countries gravitate from fossil fuels to renewables, with unclear transition timetables, due to its cost-effectiveness (about half the cost of liquid fuel) and atmospheric responsiveness (about 50% less CO2 emissions).
Dr. Asante also suggested that the energy transition programme should consider the regional carbon footprint in the transition timetable. Africa, he noted, has about 18% of the world’s population, but the carbon footprint of its 1.5 billion inhabitants is only 4% compared to the rest of the world.
He further emphasised the need for Africa to utilise more of what it produces. Africa contributes about 10% of total world gas production but accounts for only 5% of global consumption.
“The difference between Africa’s 800 Tcf (trillion cubic feet) of gas reserves and its current production of about 10 Tcf per year presents an opportunity for increased supply, but the disparity between its current production and local consumption presents an opportunity for development,” he stated.
However, he acknowledged several challenges, particularly in the areas of commodity monetisation and security, as well as financing and infrastructure assurance.
He discussed challenges confronting key African gas production fields, such as Zohr, West Nile Delta, and Nooros in Egypt; Hassi R’Mel, Rhourde Nouss, Alrar, and Tinrhert in Algeria; Gbaran Ubie in Nigeria; the Soyo Project in Angola; Alba in Equatorial Guinea; and Wafa and Bahr Essalam in Libya.
The challenges he outlined include lack of access to capital, inadequate requisite infrastructure, unattractive fiscal and tax regimes, unclear institutional and regulatory frameworks, insufficient local intellectual capacity, limited local and private sector participation in the energy sector, and non-cost-reflective delivered commodity prices.
Despite these challenges, Dr. Asante suggested that Africa still has a significant opportunity to establish its gas supply credentials to address these issues and the constraints imposed by global geopolitics.
Dr. Ben Asante is a Chemical and Petroleum Engineer with over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He has worked for major companies in Canada and the US in various technical and managerial roles and has served as a consultant to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, advising over 25 countries on gas and energy development plans. He is the immediate past CEO of the Ghana National Gas Company.
Additionally, Dr. Asante is an academic, teaching oil and gas-related courses at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana, and has previously taught at the University of Calgary in Canada and Imperial College in London, England. He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.