RUTHFULLY YOURS

In prior posts where I have addressed the futility of jurisdictions in the U.S. trying to “save the planet” by reducing their use of fossil fuels, my focus has generally been on China and India. Those countries have huge populations (about 1.4 billion each) and still-poorly-developed energy infrastructure. Of course they are going to continue to build power plants until everybody has access to reliable electricity. And of course they are going to make use of coal, oil and natural gas, because those fossil fuels provide the cheapest and most reliable energy. The ongoing increase in emissions from China and India as they build out their electricity systems and as their people acquire automobiles regularly swamps any minor emissions reductions that any jurisdictions in the U.S. can achieve.

But let us also not overlook Africa. Africa’s population is currently about 1.3 billion, but growing much faster than that of China or India. The UN projects a population for Africa of 2.5 billion for 2050, and 4 billion for 2100. Meanwhile, close to half of the current 1.3 billion Africans lack access to electricity; and that number will only grow rapidly in the absence of rapid buildout of an electrical grid throughout the continent.

You may have seen predictions in certain quarters that Africa is going to “go green” as it gains access to energy. But what is the reality on the ground? We can get a good indication by looking at what happened last week at the Africa Oil Week convention, held this year in Cape Town, South Africa. Reuters had a report on the event, with the headline “No apologies: Africans say their need for oil cash outweighs climate concerns.”

It seems that the Africa Oil Week convention was attended by representatives of some 75 countries, including 23 energy ministers. According to Reuters, unlike the scene at similar confabs held in Europe, at this one pretty much no one gave a hoot about the issue of “climate change”:

The tension keenly felt at oil conferences in Europe was largely absent over the three-day event in Cape Town; there was little focus on climate change. . . .

One after another, delegates interviewed by Reuters stated that they were not going to let non-Africans buffalo them into not developing their fossil fuel resources. Examples:

• From Gabriel Obiang Lima, energy minister of Equatorial Guinea: “Under no circumstances are we going to be apologizing [for developing our fossil fuel resources]. . . . Anybody out of the continent saying we should not develop those [oil] fields, that is criminal.”

• From Gwede Mantashe, energy minister of South Africa: “Energy is the catalyst for growth. . . . [Environmentalists] even want to tell us to switch off all the coal-generated power stations,” he said. “Until you tell them, ‘you know we can do that, but you’ll breathe fresh air in the darkness’.”

• From Noel Mboumba, hydrocarbons minister of Gabon: “Oil is a major driver of development. We will do all in our power to develop it.”

Meanwhile, Africa News has a roundup from the same convention of various countries announcing plans to move forward on fossil fuel development and investment projects:

• Senegal’s Oil and Energy Minister Mahamadou Makhtar Cisse used the platform to launch . . . a licensing round of three blocks of sediment basin.

• Angola’s newly formed national oil, gas and biofuels agency, ANGP, announced that the country has formed a consortium with five international oil companies, including Eni and Chevron, to develop liquefied natural gas (LNG) . . . .

• Uganda is highlighting the ongoing second licensing round for oil exploration, which covers five highly prospective blocks with relatively good seismic and other data, Minister [Irene] Muloni said. . . .

• Ghana told AOW delegates that plans, revising its laws on oil and gas licenses, sent to parliament last week, are an effort to spur production. . . .

• Chairman of Mozambique’s upstream regulator, INP, Carlos Zacarias announced that the country’s long-awaited sixth licensing round is due to be launched early next year.

• Somalian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed said his country was embarked on a path to transform Somalia’s petroleum industry and attract the attention of new investors. . . .

Even as the Oil Week convention proceeded, outside the hotel, a small group of protesters from Extinction Rebellion did their thing, labeling the event a “Climate Criminals Conference.” Here is a photograph from Reuters:

Notice that all of the protesters are white. Their objective is to keep the poor poor. Somehow they have convinced themselves that they have the moral high ground.