Poor energy access obstructs Africa growth

NEW DELHI – Nigerian oil minister Edmund Daukoru said on Tuesday poor access to energy was the biggest obstacle to Africa’s development, citing the lack of capital and infrastructure.

The Opec producer called for affirmative action from governments and lenders to help poor consumers, after earlier saying all prices were too low to encourage investments from producers. “The issue is not one of natural resources, its one of capital, and the ability to pay, coordination – or the lack of it, and management,” he said at the Petrotech conference in the Indian capital.Africa produces about 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude but consumes slightly less then three million, according to BP statistical review of world energy.Electricity consumption of the entire African continent is only equivalent to the usage in the UK, with 85 per cent of the population with no access to electricity, Daukoru said.These factors have led to environmental problems such as the high rate of deforestation as people cleared forests and burn wood for fuel.”The problem is clearly refining capacity and transportation, investment in roads, railways, shipping and pipelines, and more cross-border projects like the trans-Sahara gas pipeline which needed US$9 billion,” he said.Africa cannot ignore its large recoverable reserves of coal, and is endowed with renewable energy such as a potential of millions of gigawatts of hydropower, he said.Nampa-Reuters”The issue is not one of natural resources, its one of capital, and the ability to pay, coordination – or the lack of it, and management,” he said at the Petrotech conference in the Indian capital.Africa produces about 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude but consumes slightly less then three million, according to BP statistical review of world energy.Electricity consumption of the entire African continent is only equivalent to the usage in the UK, with 85 per cent of the population with no access to electricity, Daukoru said.These factors have led to environmental problems such as the high rate of deforestation as people cleared forests and burn wood for fuel.”The problem is clearly refining capacity and transportation, investment in roads, railways, shipping and pipelines, and more cross-border projects like the trans-Sahara gas pipeline which needed US$9 billion,” he said.Africa cannot ignore its large recoverable reserves of coal, and is endowed with renewable energy such as a potential of millions of gigawatts of hydropower, he said.Nampa-Reuters