African Petroleum Producers’ Organization to continue Exploiting members’ huge Oil and Gas resources

During the 41^st Ministerial Session H.E., Diamantino Pedro Azevedo and H.E. Samou Seidou Adambi were elected APPO President and Vice President respectively for 2022 [caption id="attachment_91631" align="alignnone" width="640"] Angola's Minister of Petroleum Resources Diamantino Pedro Azevedo is new APPO President[/caption] By Boris Esono Nwenfor The Council of Ministers of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) has resolved to continue the exploitation of its Member Countries’ huge oil and gas resources for the economic emancipation of its people while also exploring the use of renewable energies. This was one of several decisions taken during the 41^st Ministerial Session of APPO that took place in Algiers, Algeria this December 14, 2021. The next Ordinary Session of the Ministerial Council has been scheduled for Angola during the last quarter of 2022 at a date to be communicated by the host country. The Session which was presided by the President of the Organization, His Excellency Mohamed Arkab, Minister of Mines and Energy of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, and was attended by the Ministers and Heads of Delegation of the 14 Member Countries of the Organization, namely Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and South Africa. Also, in attendance were Ministers of Petroleum and Energies of Senegal, H.E. Aishatou Sophie Gladima, the deputy Minister of Energy of Ghana, His Excellency Mohamed Amin Adam, the Executive Secretary of the Africa Energy Commission of the African Union, Mr Rashid Ali Abdalla and the Executive Chairman of the Africa Energy Chamber, Mr NJ Ayuk, among other international energy organizations. According to a communique from APPO, top on the agenda of the Ministerial discussions was the Future of the Oil and Gas industry in Africa in the light of the Global pursuit of Energy Transition. Ministers acknowledged the reality of climate change and expressed their support for any human efforts aimed at tackling the dangers of climate change. “The Session noted that the current approach to energy transition is unilateral imposition where the developed countries that have for over one hundred years used fossil fuels to grow their economies and societies and have all along been aware of the dangers of fossil fuel emissions, are now telling the world that fossil fuels are dangerous to mankind and that all should abandon it,” the communique read in part. “The Ministers noted that this aggressive drive for Energy Transition is coming at a time that African economies are poised to launch themselves into industrialization, which requires a lot of energy, whereas the economies of the developed countries now require less energy because of their transformation from manufacturing to knowledge production and artificial intelligence.” On financing energy projects on the Continent, the Council resolved to look within the continent at both public and private sources to raise the necessary capital to continue to finance the oil and gas industry. They agreed that Africa needs to re-strategize as the game is fast changing. “Africa shall need to look within for the expertise, technology, finance and markets for its energy resources. The Council noted that the potential exists, as Africa has a huge population of 1.3 billion people. All they need is to be mobilized and empowered to be able to buy energy,” APPO said. With the call for the abandonment of oil and gas growing due to its adverse effects on the environment, the Council did reaffirm their commitment to the protection of the environment, emphasizing the need to pursue technologies that would allow for the use of fossil fuels with minimum carbon footprints. The Council called on the technologically advanced and financially capable countries to lend their support to African countries as they grapple with the challenges of Energy Transition. During the 41^st Ministerial Session, five new Ministers were welcomed to the board such as H.E. Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua of Congo, H.E. Budimbu Ntubuanga Didier of DR Congo, H.E. Thomas Camara of Cote d’Ivoire, H.E. Mohamed Oun of the State of Libya and H.E. Mahammane Sani Mahammadou of Niger. Meantime, H.E. Mr Diamantino Pedro Azevedo and H.E. Mr Samou Seidou Adambi, Minister of Petroleum Resources of Angola and Minister of Water and Mines of Benin, respectively, were unanimously elected as APPO President and Vice President for the year 2022. While the Council approved Mr Celestin Enanto, Executive Board Member for Benin and Mr Jean Jacques Koum, Executive Board Member for Cameroon, respectively as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board for the year 2022.