Senegal not giving up on oil and gas

Saint-Louis, Senegal (AFP):

Senegal says it has no intention of leaving lucrative oil and gas in the ground in the name of fighting climate change as recently discovered oil and gas reserves raise hopes of future riches and industrialization.

Senegalese President Macky Sall says it would be “an injustice” and he has launched a diplomatic counter-offensive to justify extracting the resources, starting next year.

“Not being the greatest polluters since we are not industrialised, it would be unfair in the search for a solution (to global warming) to ban Africa from using the natural resources which are underground,” Sall told visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in May.

And the message seems even more likely to be heard now that Europeans, facing a major energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are looking to diversify their oil and gas supplies.

Greenpeace Africa’s ocean campaign manager Aliou Ba stressed that exploiting fossil fuel deposits will further “exacerbate” the climate crisis, with efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius looking increasingly forlorn.

Senegal’s oil and gas discoveries account for only 0.07 percent and 0.5, respectively, of world reserves. But Energy and Oil Minister Sophie Gladima said “they are important enough to radically change the economy and industrial fabric of our country and thereby its future prospects.”

“Just exploiting our hydrocarbons will enable us to accelerate public access to electricity and above all to lower the cost of production and encourage industrialisation.”

She underlined the legal framework needed to bring thousands of Senegalese jobs into the sector, and the setting up of the National Institute of Oil and Gas to turn out a highly qualified workforce.