The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Treasurer, Malam Isyaku Abdullahi has predicted a rosy future for the refining of petroleum products during a panel discussion on the emerging Trends on Africa’s Fuel Markets and the Future of Refining in Lagos.
Abdullahi said the oil demand in Africa stood at an average of 4.36 million barrels per day in 2022. He noted that although Africa has the world’s lowest levels of per capita use of modern Energy, its demand is set to increase with growth in population and incomes.
He stated that as the continent’s population and incomes grow, demand for modern energy expands by a third between 2020 and 2030 in the SAS.
He said, while quoting latest statistics, that as of today, 970 million Africans lack access to clean cooking gas, adding that “with 17% of the world’s population, Africa currently produces less than 5% of global emissions”
He stated that PwC estimates, showed it would cost Africa around $2.8tn to reach a net-zero energy mix by 2050.
Abdullahi said the annual costs of circa $33bn between 2020 and 2030; $111bn between 2030 and 2040; and $142bn between 2040 and 2050.
He stated that: “Despite increasing pressure to exit fossil fuels, investors still see the potential of natural gas in the transition to cleaner energy sources, as it has scale to satisfy growing global demand and fuel switching from coal.
“Consumers living in oil producing countries in Africa spent less money on gasoline. For instance, one liter cost 0.03 U.S. dollar in Lybia and 0.40 U.S. dollar in Nigeria that is the biggest fuel exporter in Africa”, he noted.
Turning to product pricing and subsidy regimes, he also reeled out instances with latest figures available.
“The world spends an astounding US$423 billion annually to subsidize fossil fuels for consumers”, he said, quoting United Nations statistics.
He said over half the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa subsidize fuel to protect consumers from high and volatile prices.
With just a little less than a year as the helmsman of PPMC, he has been able to register some giant strides there which include but are not limited to growing profit from N3b to N12.9b representing 400% increase; streamlining products request through the implementation and upgrade of customer express, which enhances transparency in product distribution and accountability.
It would be recalled that he was Managing Director of PPMC from August 10, 2021 to October, , 2022.
