•Out of the 54 African countries, only two refine their requirement in petroleum products, Libya and Algeria.
•All the other 52 countries still have to import refined products. While we agree that there is a climate emergency, we must also contextualize our realities.
The global energy mix still has fossil fuels at 80 per cent.
About 25 years ago, the number was about 82 per cent. Oil is at 30 per cent, Coal at 30 per cent and gas is at 20 per cent.
This of course has been fueled by population growth which has increased by almost 30 per cent.
Africa still has a daily demand of about 4.3 million barrels of oil, which almost equal to that of India.
Out of the 54 African countries, only two refine their requirement in petroleum products, Libya and Algeria.
All the other 52 countries still have to import refined products. While we agree that there is a climate emergency, we must also contextualize our realities.
Out of the global cumulative emissions, Africa is below four per cent, other countries like China and the Us are at 23 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively.
Yet, with the going green discussion, they are still oil producers!
Africa has incredible fossil fuel reserves, most of which are undiscovered, and those that have been discovered, are underutilised.
Yes, it also has an abundance of renewable energy resources. With at least four decades of oil demand before peak, where does that leave us?
It means we shall have to depend on other regions and support their stranding assets through our markets. We shall do this while we export jobs and import more poverty.
I am happy to see that there are some visionary companies, leaders and nations that have braved the headwinds and developed infrastructure to support their own needs and people.
The $20 billion Dangote Petroleum & Petrochemicals refinery, that can produce 650,000 barrel per day of refined petroleum products daily, is one such example.
It can now supply 100 per cent the African aviation industry. Let that sink. Nigeria can now join Algeria and Libya as the only African countries that refine their requirements in petroleum products.
Angola is also on its way to developing a second refinery after successfully executing the Soyo refinery.
Before this, it was importing 80 per cent of its petroleum products requirements while it sits huge reserves.
Our Neighbour, Uganda is going to be the first oil exporter in 2025-26 after the completion of the TotalEnergies backed East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline.
This is expected to pump millions of dollars into the Uganda economy every year while creating a new oil and gas economy.
Africa still has 600 million people without energy access, and access as defined simply means the least amount of energy needed for lighting and charging simple devices.
If we start talking about industrialisation, then we can see that we require all of our natural endowments to lift our people out of poverty.
If Dangote Petroleum & Petrochemicals could do it, then many other indigenous companies can as well.
The writer is the CEO and National Coordinator, the Petroleum Outlets Association of Kenya (POAK).