The Gas Exporting Countries Forum Secretariat hosted the African Ambassadors Group, a conference dedicated to Energy on the African Continent.
The event was attended by Ambassadors and members of diplomatic missions to the State of Qatar, representing about 20 countries of the African continent.
The event was opened by HE Felizwe Dlamini, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Swaziland and the President of the African Ambassadors Group, who welcomed the participants.
From the GECF side, the event was represented by Dr. Hussein Moghaddam, Senior Energy Forecast Analyst, who delivered a speech and shared a presentation dedicated to gas forecasts in Africa.
Two keynote speeches were delivered by HE Dr. Bashir Issa Al-Shirawi, former Qatar Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, who shared his opinion on Africa and its resources.
The second keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Benjamin Auge, Chief Editor of Africa Energy Intelligence, who provided insight on the way forward for Africa’s oil and gas industry and various investment decision affecting it.
The meeting was followed by a fruitful panel discussion which covered energy related issues. The conference and discussion was facilitated by Mr. Abdu-Raof Hanslo, an economic commentator and Editor-in-chief of the South African Finance Times.
Africa has received special attention in the new edition of the GECF Global Gas Outlook, to be released in January 2020. Natural gas represents a good tool for energy poverty alleviation in Africa, considering the continent’s abundance and geographical spread of this resource.
Last year, Africa accounted for only 6% of global energy demand, and little more than 3% of electricity demand.
According to the GECF Global Gas Outlook, in 2050, energy and electricity demand will increase by an overall of 126% of which 85% will be in Africa, respectively.
Natural gas constituted 15% of Africa’s energy mix in 2018. However, gas has a great potential to provide 380 bcm of Africa’s energy demand by 2050, considering the continent’s abundance and geographical spread of this resource. From the supply side, Africa accounts for 6% of global marketed gas production today and with 620 bcm production, will account for 10% by 2050.
HE Faizel Moosa, Ambassador of South Africa to Qatar thanked the speakers and the GECF Secretariat for hosting the event and making it a resounding success.
The GECF welcomes potential new Members and Observers from the continent and is looking forward to hold similar events in the future.
By: Paa Kwasi Anamua Sakyi
There is an ongoing debate on how best to provide electricity for income generating activities to the 1.1 billion people currently without access to electricity — of whom 600 million are living in Sub-Saharan Africa, many of them in rural areas. The electrification rates in rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa average 16 percent, compared to 99 percent in North African countries and 71 percent in South Africa (Toman and Peters, 2017, Practical Action 2012).
Lack of access to electricity have been identified as a major constraint to economic growth and increased welfare in developing countries. This has been reemphasized by the United Nations and the World Bank Group as co-chairs of the global Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative, which was launched in 2011, with the goal of achieving universal access to energy within the next 15 years.
Since 2014 the number of people without access to power in SSA has declined, as electrification efforts have surpassed population growth (Tagliapietra, 2015). According to an Independent Evaluation Group 2015 report commissioned by the World Bank, low-access countries received about US$3.6 billion on annual basis into the electricity sector from all sources between the period 2000 and 2014. A substantial part of these funds was allocated to extension of the traditional electricity grid (Foster and Briceño-Garmendia, 2010). This level of investment in grid extension, according to Toman and Peters (2017), is politically popular in many donor organizations and national governments, including those in Africa.
The extension of grid electrification is seen rightly as a key part of the infrastructure development needed to achieve the economic transformation required for achieving the standard of living of industrialized countries (Toman and Peters, 2017). The arguments are that modern energy use may enable the poor in developing countries to engage in improved or new income-generating activities often called ‘productive use of energy’ (PUE), as opposed to ‘consumptive use’, thereby eventually leading to an improvement in their living conditions (UNDP/WHO 2009, Practical Action 2012).
“Productive Use of Energy” Defined
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in conjunction with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), in the context of providing modern energy services in rural areas, defines productive use of energy as one that involves the application of energy derived mainly from renewable resources to create goods and/or services either directly or indirectly for the production of income or value (White, 2002). While this definition is originally meant to consider only renewable energy, many researchers including Short (2015) and (Cabraal, 2005) applies it to all forms of energy.
In Cabraal (2005) productive uses were viewed as uses which improved the economic situation — increased production, higher employment, et cetera leading to higher incomes. Short (2015) refers to any use resulting in the production of income as an economic use of electricity. Also according to the German development agency GIZ, productive uses of electricity are those that increase income or productivity.
Therefore any use of electricity that generates income or value for the user is considered as productive use of electricity; from artisanal activities to large-scale commercial and industrial processing of agricultural products.
Productive uses of energy can assist women, in particular, to earn income and improve their quality of life, through the use of lighting to extend opportunities for cottage industries in the home and electrical equipment in activities such as baking and ceramics. Electrical equipment helps women save time and labor and creates opportunities for education, socializing, and communication (White 2002; Cabraal, Barnes, and Agarwaal 2005).
Examples of Productive Uses
Applying electrical equipment to production increases productivity and income by extending product life through electrical equipment for drying, refrigeration, freezing, and packaging; raising output, standardizing product quality and cutting costs; replacing less-efficient equipment (e.g., diesel-powered motors); expanding access to information about markets and technologies; and creating jobs (World Bank Group, 2017). The simplest productive use of electricity according to Fishbein (2003), is the extension of working hours of restaurants, shops, clinics, schools, and artisanal businesses. Other common uses include the provision of cooling and refrigeration, heat, and motive power for agriculture, small industry, or commerce (Fishbein 2003).
Finucane, Bogach, and Garcia (2012) provides other range of production processes as shown below:
Agriculture
Pumps (groundwater, surface water)
Modern irrigation (sprinkler, drip)
Processing centers for coffee, cereals, root crops, fruit
Grain and rice mills
Crop drying
Animal husbandry
Centers for processing and storing dairy products and meat
Heated shelters, feed mixing and processing
Metalworking and carpentry
Soldering equipment, saws, lathes, and sanders
Tourism, bakery, restaurants, crafts
Lights, fans, ovens, mixers, cook-stoves
Sewing machines
In spite of the potential benefits of having access to electricity, the adoption of electrical equipment for production doesn’t seem to occur spontaneously. A study by Lenz et al. (2017) in Rwanda found that although most people with the opportunity to access the grid got connected, consumption levels in both households and enterprises remained very modest, even 4 years after the connection. And that there was no indication of economic multiplier effects from increased productive uses of electricity at a scale beyond small shops and other small service businesses.
Limiting Factors to PUE
A major evaluation of World Bank-assisted rural electrification projects concluded that simply providing an electricity connection did not lead to adoption of electrical equipment in businesses or significant development impacts (IEG 2008). Short (2015) studied how electricity is being used in rural areas and whether the uses are aiding in the national growth of Vietnam. The findings conclude that although electricity is being used productively, in most cases it is not being utilized economically. These experiences have shown that promotional efforts are often needed to encourage the adoption of electrical equipment for production (Finucane, Bogach, and Garcia 2012).
The U.S. National Rural Electric Cooperative, suggest that the reasons why adoption of electrical equipment requires promotion relate to the nature of rural producers and the markets for their products (demand constraints), the characteristics of rural electricity supply (supply constraints), and tariff and regulatory issues (public policy constraints).
Demand constraints include:
Limited market opportunities – The local market may lack the capacity to absorb the expected growth in production from use of electrical equipment for revenue generation.
Limited access to information – Producers may not have the requisite knowledge about potential business opportunities or potential electricity uses, and technology options like electrical equipment brands, types, sizes, local availability etc., or how to connect to the grid.
Lack of technical and management skill – Producers may lack the know-how even as they adopt a new technology. They also lack the skills to present a business plan to financing institutions, and qualified technicians to maintain electrical equipment may be scarce.
High investment costs and limited financing – Producers may face high upfront costs for grid connection and new equipment, and credit to finance those costs may not be available in some rural areas.
Supply constraints include:
Unreliable electricity service – An unreliable grid poses threats to electrical equipment from voltage fluctuations and interruptions and can prevent realizing a return on investment in electrical equipment.
Physical limitations of rural grids – Most rural distribution systems use single-phase circuits (two-wire configurations with a neutral conductor or single-wire earth return). Such lines can only accommodate small-scale applications such as sewing machines and refrigerators. However, the motors needed for many productive uses can create problems on such systems.
Minimal service by rural utilities – Utilities serving rural areas often provide minimal service, focusing on connections, billing, and collection. Many have no staff to help rural producers select electrical equipment or design connections and facilities.
Low distribution company revenues and viability in rural areas – Utilities often incur high costs but earn low revenues in rural areas owing to a combination of low levels of demand, the lack of cost-reflective tariffs and the absence of compensating subsidies. The result is poor service quality and minimal service.
Public policy constraints include:
Tariff issues – Rural tariffs may not fully cover costs, discouraging utilities from promoting demand. Tariff structures may also discourage productive uses of electricity.
Electrification targets and system designs that focus on access and ignore motorized uses – When programs focus only on numbers of connections, system designs often use least-cost single-phase or single-wire earth return distribution lines. As noted earlier, such lines often limit the use of motors that are essential for common applications such as grinding, milling, pumping, and sawing.
Lack of evidence linking productive uses of electricity to socioeconomic development – There is a lack of data and evidence-based conclusions on the broader effects — on income generation, health, and education — of expanding the productive use of electricity.
Electrification seen as an end in itself – Rural electrification must be seen not as an end, but as a means of promoting rural development and the well-being of rural populations.
Lack of coordination with other development efforts – Too often, electrification is not coordinated with efforts in other sectors, such as health, education, agricultural extension, or small-industry development programs.
A two-day women in Energy Conference is scheduled to be opened in Accra, capital of Ghana, West Africa.
The programme, which will be taking place at the Labadi Beach Hotel, is being organised by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), in collaboration with the Ghana Power Compact Implementing Entities including Electricity Company of Ghana, Ministry of Energy, as well as Ghana Standards Authority.
Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Morrison, is expected to open the conference.
The purpose of the conference is to promote networking, knowledge exchange, harness the diverse experiences and best practices of Female Employee Associations, as well as leverage strategies for advancing gender equality and social inclusion in power utilities.
These are expected to contribute to improving organizational performance.
The conference will bring together over one hundred participants from public and private power utility companies and civil society organisations in and outside Ghana.
Background
Studies have shown a positive correlation between enhanced gender diversity at the utility companies and improvement in the overall, including financial, performance of the businesses.
In recognition of this linkage, MCC and MiDA consultants, during feasibility studies for Compact II Programme development, assessed the gender responsiveness of the institutional environment at ECG.
This was done through document reviews and a series of interviews with management and staff. The findings indicated a number of challenges, including slow progress with increasing women’s employment and participation in the energy sector and the inability of these companies to attract women professionals and retain them when they do.
Based on this social and gender analyses, a sub-activity titled Institutionalizing Gender Responsiveness was added to the ECG Financial and Operational Turnaround Projects to address these challenges and support ECG’s institutional transformation into companies with modern utility.
A Ranking Member on Mines and Energy Committee of Ghana’s Parliament, Adam Mutawakilu is incensed by what could be described as a deliberate attempt by the Minister for Finance to hijack and control the West African nation’s Energy Ministry despite being headed by John-Peter Amewu.
The outspoken Damongo legislator, who doubles as the spokesperson for the Minority on Energy issues, is worried that the Finance Minister is now having dealings with players in the industry instead of the Energy Minister John-Peter Amewu.
He claimed that Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and other stakeholders have been ordered to report directly to Mr Ofori-Atta instead of the Energy Minister.
Adams Mutawakilu, who described the development as unhealthy, says he is thinking of dragging the two Ministers before the Energy Committee and, to among others, answer questions on the increasing debt at the sector.
“I have discussed the matter with the Chairman [of the Energy Committee] and I think that we will invite the Minister for Energy. The Minister for Finance has now hijacked the work of the Minister for Energy, even Independent Power Producers now report to the Minister for Finance,” Mutawakilu said on Accra based Citi FM.
He further added: “They’ve rendered the Minister for Energy useless. We will summon the Minister for Energy first and where necessary, we will bring the Minister of Finance.”
Commenting on the recent strike action by workers of the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO), Mr Mutawakilu explained that the Energy Minister must brief them on steps being taken to settle the hefty debt.
“The morale of staff is not sound because of frustrations. They will not be able to do their best to ensure the lights are on and therefore President Nana Akufo-Addo should not take us back to dumsor…he should resolve all the challenges facing GRIDCo, extended to ECG and NEDCo with immediate effect,” he told the news portal.
The strike action by GRIDCO span from huge accumulated debts by state institutions including ECG and NEDCO—both power distributions’ platforms who owe about GHc607 million and GHc 177 million respectively.
The power producer further alleged that two other companies-VALCO and PDS-owe a total amount of $32million and GHc94 million respectively.
Staff of GRIDCo planned to picket offices of the ECG and the Finance Ministry to demand their money after seven days.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, has reportedly discovered that about $3.4b penalties which is supposed to have been paid to the Petroleum Holding Fund has not been paid
According myjoyonline.com, about $220 million of the petroleum funds is said to be outstanding since December 2017,
Of the total amount, $219 million represents amounts due from the Ghana National Gas Company Limited for gas sold to them by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
There was an additional US$1 million surface rental fees unpaid by various entities.
The estimated amount of penalties based for such delayed or nonpayment amounted to $3.4 billion.
The Auditor-General in the West Africa nation observed that there is a loss of income which would have been earned if the funds had been paid on time and invested.
The report noted that Auditor General recommended that monies due to the Petroleum Funds should be promptly collected. Any late payments should attract interest as stipulated by law.
Management in its response said that the Ghana National Gas Company Limited failed to pay the amount owed Ghana National Petroleum Corporation because the Volta River Authority (VRA) had defaulted in paying Ghana National Gas Company for gas supplied to them for the running of the thermal plants.
It said regarding the unpaid surface rental fees, Ghana Revenue Authority has been informed of the situation and Bank of Ghana was awaiting its response.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has led the financing of a first-of-its-kind programme to build six wind power projects in Pakistan, named the Super Six, with a total investment of $450 million.
The programme aims to help deliver cleaner, cheaper power to meet the country’s critical demand for energy and reduce reliance on expensive imported fossil fuels.
Financing agreements for the landmark wind power programme were signed by IFC’s senior manager, Nadeem Siddiqui and private sector power developers at a special ceremony witnessed by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan and Federal Minister for Energy, Omar Ayub.
The Super Six plants, with a combined capacity of 310MW, will deliver among the lowest-cost power generation in the country to date.
They will be built in the Jhimpir wind corridor in Sindh province and will generate more than 1,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power 450,000 homes.
The programme is also expected to lead to emission reductions of about 650,000 tons of CO2 per year.
All Super Six projects are being developed by domestic companies: ACT Group, Artistic Milliners (Private) Limited, Din Group, Gul Ahmed Group and Younus Brothers Group.
“The government is aiming to increase the non-hydro renewable energy share in the overall generation mix from 4 to 20% by 2025 and it is welcoming to see Pakistan’s local private sector behind these Super Six wind projects, supporting the government’s long-term objective to see more wind and solar in the country’s energy mix,” said Ayub.
“This additional clean power will help meet growing demand, reduce the average cost of electricity, and improve both reliability and security of supply,” IFC’s Vice President for Asia and Pacific, Nena Stoiljkovic said. “We hope this will send a strong signal to the private sector that the renewable energy market in Pakistan is viable and sustainable, as well as beneficial to the Pakistani people.”
IFC financing package
As part of the programme, IFC is providing a financing package of $320 million, comprising $86 million from its own account and $234 million mobilised from other lenders, which include Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG, part of KfW Group of Germany), and local banks Bank Alfalah, Bank Al Habib and Meezan Bank.
The programme is in line with the joint energy strategy of the World Bank Group, which includes IFC, the World Bank and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), to help address Pakistan’s structural issues in the energy sector, through policy reforms and increases in private investments to expand clean energy generation and bring down the cost of power.
The cost of power from the Super Six projects is expected to be more than 40% lower than the current average cost of generation, a move that is expected to spur more investments in renewable energy in the country.
IFC, one of the largest investors in Pakistan’s power sector, financed the first wind power project in the country in 2011 and helped created the framework for financing hydro and wind Independent Power Producers. With this programme, IFC will have made investments in 11 wind power projects in Pakistan.
The World Bank is supporting the government on policy reforms to enhance the energy sector’s sustainability and the implementation of the upcoming new renewable energy policy framework.
Sierra Leone’s clean energy provider, Easy Solar, has announced that it has reached a new milestone of 300,000 users nationwide.
“We are thrilled to be making life easier for so many individuals who do not have access to reliable electricity. No one should have to live in the dark,” Nthabiseng Mosia, co-founder and director of customer experience at Easy Solar said.
Mosia added: “Our customers are families and small scale entrepreneurs in urban and rural areas. We believe they should be empowered by electricity, not limited by it. Our agents and staff are dedicated to improving our customers’ lives and we’re excited to bring a range of even better products like 24 and 32 inch TVs coming in January, as well as small business and agricultural solutions in 2020.”
For more than three years, Easy Solar has been committed to expanding energy access in Sierra Leone.
Today, the company remains at the forefront with its products powering more than 40,000 households, and shops in 15 out of 16 districts where consumers can access a range of services and products including lanterns, home lighting systems, and appliances, as well as recently introduced fuel-efficient cookstoves.
The company also offers large scale solar and backup power solutions and substantial savings to residential and commercial customers using the grid and/or diesel generators.
“The demand for sustainable energy products will continue to grow, and we are excited to be a leader in the industry,” Eric Silverman, co-founder and director of sales and operations said.
“Over the past couple of years, Easy Solar has tripled the number of customers we serve, created jobs for 500 full-time staff and agents. We have also built partnerships with civil society organisations and development partners to bring much-needed energy relief to schools, clinics, and communities,” Silverman stated.
Ghana’s downstream petroleum regulator, National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has revealed that discussions are underway which will lead to the establishment of a specialised office that will be mandated to prosecute criminal elements in the downstream petroleum sector.
The activities of such unscrupulous characters have negatively impacted expected revenue generation for national development.
During the recent 2020 budget presentation to Parliament, the West African nation’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta indicated that the NPA would be given additional powers to enable them sanction players in the industry who are determined to cheat the system.
Speaking at this year’s Africa Refiners and Distributors Association (ARA) conference on petroleum downstream supply and distribution sector in Accra, capital of Ghana, CEO of NPA, Mr. Hassan Tampuli emphasized that the industry needs to be purged from recalcitrant elements who do not want to play by the rules.
“The industry has been plagued by a number of bottlenecks with chiefly among them is the lose of almost GHC868m to illegal activities by some petroleum service providers, who routinely have been dumping products meant for export back into the Ghanaian market. Through regulatory interventions we have curtailed the issue significantly,” he said.
“Only two weeks ago cabinet gave a fiat to the Attorney General for the NPA to prosecute cases associated with the downstream petroleum industry regarding miscreants who refuse to comply. So, in the coming weeks and months we shall setup a prosecution department and shall deal with such cases.”
Mr. Tampuli also urged participants to work together to improve the infrastructure gaps in the industry, as demands for petroleum products continue to rise.
The conference creates a common platform for industry experts drawn from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, to discuss ways by which they can improve the petroleum sector in their respective countries.Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Karpowership Ghana Company Limited, an independent power producer in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa, has announced that its 470MW Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan currently located in Sekondi has commenced power production utilizing Ghana’s indigenous Natural Gas.
“Karpowership would like to thank all stakeholders who have been involved in the success of the Relocation project,” a statement from the company said.
In August this year, the Powership departed from the Tema Fishing Harbor to berth at its new location within the Sekondi Naval Base.
The 470-megawatt capacity Karpowership, which was berthed and operating from Tema at 450 megawatts, was to augment the country’s energy supply.
The new vessel replaced a 225 megawatts barge which was delivered in November 2015.
The arrival of the vessel was part of the Power Purchase Agreement signed with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), requiring Karpowership Ghana Company Limited to provide a total of 450MW capacity, and directly feed it into the national grid for 10 years.
To ensure Karpowership reaches its maximum capacity, government relocated the plant to Aboadze, near Takoradi.
Karpowership is the owner, operator and builder of the only Powership (floating power plant) fleet in the world and plays an active role in medium to long-term investments; providing access to fast-track, affordable and reliable electricity.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Workers of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), the power transmission company in the Republic of Ghana, have served notice to embark on an industrial action by December 4, 2019, if three key stakeholder institutions in the energy sector namely ECG, NEDCo and VALCO fail to settle their huge indebtedness which has crippled the operations of the company.
The workers say they would be hoisting red flags at all locations of the company in a bid to register their displeasure ahead of the industrial action in December.
They have also declared their intention to treat all emergency situations as normal from now on and as well, picket at ECG and Finance Ministry a week before the intended industrial action.
Giving statistics of the debt portfolio of the four companies, the workers noted that as at February this year, ECG owed the organisation a whopping GHc598 million with VALCO also owing US$28 million and NEDCO about GHc178 million.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, capital of Ghana, on Thursday, to throw more light on the predicaments of the company, National Chairman of GRIDCO Senior Staff Association, Raphael Konor said coupled with these debts, there are also loans to be serviced by the company.
He said these among others and the 2018 GRIDCo tariff review, which was reduced by 16 percent, have had a dire toll on their operations.
He added that this saw the revenue of the company dip to about GHc29 million.
“Because of these, the company’s operations and maintenance were heavily imparted. Material for maintenance works and spare works are also purchased in foreign currency but all the above companies pay in cedis except VALCO, which pays in forex,” he explained.
He stressed among other things all the companies owing GRIDCo, ECG is the biggest consumer with about 80 percent of all transmissions being domestic but had failed to pay in time to boost operations of the GRICO.
He claimed that this indebtedness has halted the traversing of the over 14,000 transmission tower across the thick forest reserve.
These towers need to be visited and maintained but the company cannot do so because of lack of funds among others, he added.
He did not mince saying that it is immoral for state institutions to owe the company such huge sum of money.
“As we speak, GRIDCO is undertaking a 330k V transmission project from Kumasi -Kintampo-Bolgatanga and 16 kV Volta-Achimota -Mallam line with a loan facility from AfDB to the tune of about USD 173 million, but the contractors have moved out of site because GRIDCo is not able to march the counterpart funding as per the terms of the facility to enable the financiers to continuously disburse the loan.
“Those of you who ply the Accra-Tema motorway would see some projects which have been stalled due to lack of funds.”
These and many other projects are geared towards stabilising our network and ensure supply reliability of electricity, he said.
With reference to the huge receivables owed by ECG-PDS and VALCO, successive governments have made several promises to settle the debt which is captured under the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA).
And from 2014 till date, the ESLA bond to re-fence the debt has not been availed, he said.
He said that the staff have reached their wit ends and cannot continue to sacrifice for others like ECG to be paying their staff emoluments so, they are embarking on the following actions.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
A former President of Iceland and Chairman of Arctic Circle, His Excellency Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has urged political and corporate leaders to be mindful of the impact of climate change and join in efforts to tackle it by pushing for investments into renewable energy.
“Any sensible corporate leader that think long term will invest in clean energy,” he said.
Arctic Circle is a non-profit organisation that facilitates dialogue among political and business leaders, environmental experts, scientists and other international stakeholders to address issues affecting the Arctic as a result of climate change and melting sea ice.
Addressing participants at this year’s Knowledge Summit 2019 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, under the topic ‘Tapping Into The Renewable Energy Source’, he said it makes a lot of sense to invest in renewable energy because it is harmless as compared to fossil fuel.
This, he explained, is the reason companies like Google, Apple and Walmart are no longer establishing new facilities anywhere unless it is entirely 100 percent driven by renewable energy.
“It is absolutely clear that renewable energy is no longer a challenge. It is no longer a niche. It is transformation of the global energy map and it’s happening faster and in more compressive way than anybody could have thought,” he said.
He noted that unlike about 10 years ago when nobody would have invested in renewable energy, the situation has changed.
He praised the efforts of China, Morocco, Denmark and Abu Dhabi for the tremendous investments they are making in the renewable energy in their respective countries.
“We’re also seeing a growing number of countries like Morocco, which could be a net exporter of power because of the progress of investments it has made…a possibility nobody would have believed 10 years ago.
“Denmark has become a big energy player through technological leadership. It is now a major player in energy,” he said.
The Executive Director for Integrated Solutions Energy Wide Perspectives, Madam Gauri Jauhar told energynewsafrica.com‘s Michael Creg Afful, who covered the event, underscored the need for governments to put in place proper framework to ensure easy integration of renewable energy into the national electricity mix
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, former president of Iceland(left) in a chart with participant at the Knowledge Summit 2019 in DubaiSource: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Saudi Aramco IPO has garnered $19.47 billion (73 billion riyals) in institutional and retail orders so far, Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group reported, according to Reuters.
The orders came from 1.8 million retail subscribers who contributed $3.7 billion into the IPO. Reuters had reported earlier that the institutional tranche of the IPO had been oversubscribed, but that preliminary estimates, according to Reuters, show that that it is not.
“Retail and Institutional subscription levels for the first five days of the offering have reached an unprecedented scale, demonstrating the confidence of investors in Saudi Aramco,” Rania Nashar, vice chairman of Samba Capital, told Reuters, adding that the bank expected “further increases in subscription levels during the remainder of the offering period.”
Samba Financial Group, a Saudi Arabia local lender, is managing investor orders for the IPO along with National Commercial Bank and HSBC Holdings PLC, Bloomberg reported yesterday, after other foreign banks found themselves with smaller roles after Saudi Arabia chose to focus on the local bourse only.
Aramco is planning to meet investors in Dubai’s Ritz Carlton on November 24 in hopes of raising $25.6 billion through its share sales. The following day, Aramco will meet investors in Abu Dhabi as well. But its tour will no longer include New York and London, since Aramco decided not to sell its Aramco shares to developed-market investors.
Aramco’s top valuation figure is $1.7 trillion—a disappointment for Saudi Arabia who had held out hope for years for a $2 trillion valuation.
Aramco plans to sell 1.5% of the company, which would work out to be roughly 3 billion shares. The total value of the IPO is expected to come in somewhere near $25 billion in what will be the world’s largest IPO to date.
Venezuela will use some 30 million barrels of oil it has in storage as backing for its national cryptocurrency, the petro, Reuters reports, citing a speech by President Nicolas Maduro.
“I will deliver these 30 million of barrels as a liquid, physical, material backing for the petro,” Maduro said on Venezuelan television.
“The inventories of crude and products in storage tanks are available for immediate commercialization … to sustain and back the operations of the sovereign Venezuelan crypto-asset, the petro.”
Earlier this month, Maduro said the petro had more than 27,000 “affiliated businesses” already and the number was expected to increase twofold in the next few months.
Caracas has intensified its efforts to make the petro popular recently, after its launch last year failed to yield any positive results for the Venezuelan economy.
One of the reasons for that was that at the time, Venezuela said it would back the cryptocurrency with some 5 billion barrels of yet to be developed reserves of oil, which were located in a region without oil production infrastructure.
Another reason was that the United States slapped sanctions on the cryptocurrency almost as soon as it was out, crippling its chances for trading on any large crypto exchange.
It was also the sanctions that pushed oil in storage higher in Venezuela. The tightening noose around Caracas, which now involves sanctions for non-U.S. parties doing oil business with Venezuela as well, scared away some potential buyers, effectively leaving Chinese and Russian entities as partners of the Maduro government. As a result, inventories of crude rose and production had to be limited several times, Reuters noted.
Yet right now exports are rising, data from OilX and Bloomberg has shown. Most of the oil exported by Venezuela is going to China and India but a lot remains in storage as well: some 39 million barrels at end-October, per data from Kpler.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
UK’s Labour Party plans to impose a reported £11bn windfall tax on oil companies, and to delist from the London Stock Exchange those companies that don’t help with climate change, its general election 2019 manifesto launched Thursday reveals.
“We will introduce a windfall tax on oil companies so that the companies that knowingly damaged our climate will help cover the costs,” the manifesto reads.
In a statement released after the launch of the manifesto, Labour said: “It is only right that the big oil and gas corporations should pay for the necessary transition from the North Sea oil and gas production, rather than enjoying windfall profits that do not reflect the true cost of their activities.
“The size and precise scheme of the tax to pay for the Fund will be determined after consultation and a comprehensive assessment of what is necessary. The tax will have no effect on prices for consumers at the pump as oil prices are determined by a global market.”
Labour has accused the Conservatives of allowing the proceeds of North Sea oil “to be squandered on tax cuts for the richest and captured in profits for the few, instead of investing them in our future.”
“We now stand at an even greater crossroads in the development of our national economy. Under Labour, our green future will be owned by all of us. Whenever public money is invested in an energy generation project, the public sector will take a stake and return profits to the public,” the Manifesto promises.
Commenting on the windfall tax plan, Michael Burns, oil and gas partner at law firm Ashurst, said: “This would be a huge challenge for the UK oil and gas industry, and an increase in tax is at odds with the strategy of encouraging more investment in the North Sea that is currently being implemented by the Oil and Gas Authority.”
Labour, which has pledged to kick-start a “Green Industrial Revolution” to tackle climate change, has promised to open one million “green jobs” for building thousands of offshore and onshore wind turbines, insulating homes, reforestation, and manufacturing electric cars.
The manifesto also promises trial and expansion of tidal energy and investment to reduce the costs of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production.
£400 billion transformation fund
The party has promised to launch a National Transformation Fund of £400 billion and rewrite the Treasury’s investment rules “to guarantee that every penny spent is compatible with our climate and environmental targets – and that the costs of not acting are fully accounted for too.”
Of this, £250 billion will directly fund the transition through a Green Transformation Fund dedicated to renewable and low-carbon energy and transport, biodiversity and environmental restoration, the manifesto further reads.
“The Tories wasted a decade serving the interests of big polluters. Labour will use the crucial next decade to act. The Tories slashed support for renewable energy while pushing through dangerous fracking. Now Britain is decades off course on vital emissions targets.
Labour and its leader Jeremy Corbyn also touched upon workers employed in the oil and gas sector.
“We will provide a strategy to safeguard the people, jobs, and skills that depend on the offshore oil and gas industry,” the manifesto reads. “We won’t hang them out to dry,” Corbyn said in a speech on Thursday.
“The Fund will, in particular, provide an expected £11 billion support package for nearly 37,000 oil and gas workers, the 126,000 people in jobs dependent on the sector and their communities to make the transition to a clean economy,” Labour said.
“North Sea oil and gas production has been hugely profitable for UK continental shelf oil and gas companies which, between 1997 and 2018, made a net operating surplus of £273 billion. But North Sea production peaked in 1999 and has been declining ever since, leaving oil and gas workers and their communities vulnerable. Action is needed now to manage the transition and adapt the skills and experience of these workers to develop green technologies,” Labour said.
Speaking at Labour’s manifesto launch, Jeremy Corbyn said:“…Labour government will ensure the big oil and gas corporations that profit from heating up our planet will shoulder and pay their fair share of the burden with a just transition tax.”
“North Sea oil and gas workers have powered this country for decades, often working under dangerous conditions. We won’t hang them out to dry. This fund will safeguard a future for their skills and communities with new careers and secure, well-paid jobs.”
Delisting for those not helping tackle climate change
Also, apart from promising a windfall tax on oil companies, Labour has also threatened with the London Stock Exchange delisting for those who don’t contribute to tackling climate change.
“Just 100 companies globally are responsible for the majority of carbon emissions. We won’t be afraid to tackle this wanton corporate destruction by taking on the powerful interests that are causing climate change. We will change the criteria a company must meet to be listed on the London Stock Exchange so that any company that fails to contribute to tackling the climate and environmental emergency is delisted.”
The manifesto also includes a pledge to bring rail, mail, water, and energy into public ownership; full-fiber broadband free to everybody; the end of food bank Britain, and lifting children and pensioners out of poverty; a Real Living Wage of at least £10 per hour for all workers; and an end to zero-hours contracts and strengthening trade union rights.
The UK general election is set to take place on December 12, 2019.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com/offshoreenergytoday.com
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
