Africa must urgently craft a unified and realistic energy pathway that protects its hydrocarbon resources, scales up renewable energy and strengthens domestic value creation, if the continent hopes to maintain control over its energy sovereignty in the face of a rapidly evolving global energy transition, Dr. Riverson Oppong, Africa Regional Director for SPE International has cautioned.
Delivering a public lecture in Accra, capital of Ghana on Friday on the theme “Energy sovereignty in the context of global energy transition: What Africa should know”, Dr. Oppong stressed that African countries risk losing strategic influence over their own energy future if they fail to assert a clear position in the shifting global landscape.
“If Africa does not decide whether it is part of the energy transition, others will decide for us,” he said.
“And those decisions will not necessarily favour our development priorities,” he added.
The lecture, which was organised by the Energy Media Group, brought together students, academia, and civil society.
Dr. Oppong challenged the common assumption that the global energy transition requires abandoning hydrocarbons altogether.
Rather, he noted that the evolution of global energy systems has always been additive.
“Coal did not replace oil, oil did not replace gas and gas was not replaced by nuclear or renewables,” he said, explaining that fossil fuels remain deeply embedded in the world’s energy mix.
He highlighted that despite a 36 percent improvement in global energy efficiency over the past two decades, energy demand and supply rose by 63 percent—evidence that efficiency gains alone do not suppress consumption.
“When energy becomes affordable and accessible, demand increases,” he added.
Dr. Oppong who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) in the Republic of Ghana, underscored that major economic powers championing net-zero campaigns continue to rely heavily on hydrocarbons, placing energy security at the core of their policy decisions.
“China still derives about 70 percent of its energy from hydrocarbons, Japan nearly 87 percent, and coal remains significant in the US and UK,” he said.
“No country has transitioned at the expense of its energy security,” he emphasised, urging African countries to adopt transition models that reflect their development needs and industrial ambitions.
Citing Ghana as an example, Dr. Oppong noted that while the country is among the African leaders in electricity access—with coverage exceeding 90 percent—true energy security remains a challenge across the continent.
“Energy security is about accessibility, availability and affordability,” he said. “You cannot industrialise if power is available but unaffordable, or affordable but unreliable.”
He commended Ghana’s decision to channel domestically produced natural gas into power generation rather than exporting it as LNG, describing it as a practical demonstration of energy sovereignty.
Dr. Oppong drew attention to the continent-wide challenge of clean cooking, noting that nearly one billion people in sub-Saharan Africa still depend on charcoal and biomass. Infrastructure gaps, he said, continue to undermine progress.
“Distributing gas cylinders without reliable refill infrastructure forces households back to charcoal,” he warned.
As global trade rules tighten, Dr. Oppong cautioned that mechanisms such as the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) could pose new risks to African economies.
“As Ghana moves toward manufacturing and processing, the carbon intensity of our energy will increasingly affect competitiveness,” he explained—adding that the same vulnerability applies across Africa’s export-dependent economies.
Dr. Oppong also pointed to the dangers of over-reliance on oil and gas revenues, referencing the fiscal crises faced by Angola, Nigeria and Venezuela during periods of oil price collapse.
“When oil prices fall, deficits widen and debt rises,” he said, calling for diversification and stronger revenue-stabilisation frameworks.
Concluding his lecture, Dr. Oppong stressed that Africa’s energy transition must be pragmatic, deeply contextualised and focused on supporting industrialisation rather than bowing to external pressures.
“The energy transition is not a threat if we manage it strategically. For Africa, the priority must be energy security, local value addition and long-term economic resilience,” he stated.
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