Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, appealed this Monday to African producers to mobilize funds to move forward with the African Energy Investment Society (AEICORP), and encouraged more countries to join the organization.
As president of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), Diamantino Azevedo launched this appeal at the opening of the eighth edition of the African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VIII), taking place in Luanda, under the motto “Energy Transition, Challenges and Opportunities in the African Oil and Gas Industry”, until the 19th.
In his speech, the Angolan official highlighted the increase in the number of member countries, which increased from eight, in 1987, to the current 15 and five more observers, and encouraged the secretary-general of the APPO to intensify the adhesion campaign of more oil and gas producing countries to the organization. “The union of all oil producers will allow a better approach and safeguard our legitimate interests”, he underlined.
“During this year in which Angola assumes the presidency of the organization, the country appeals to all APPO members to make efforts, in order to conclude the Long Term Strategy, as well as the mobilization of the initial capital for the start-up of the Society of Energy Investments in Africa (AEICORP)”, he declared.
AEICORP is a development finance institution, created to mobilize resources for the development of the energy sector in Africa, with oil and gas, alternative energies, mining and energy as main target sectors.
It was created by APPO countries (Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa) and has an authorized capital billion dollars.
Minister Diamantino Azevedo announced the signing, in this context, of the memorandum of understanding with Afreximbank. He also pointed out the importance of the study on “The Future of the Oil and Gas Industry in Africa in the Light of the Energy Transition”, whose recommendations form the basis for the elaboration of the Long-Term Strategy, which will guide the APPO in the coming decades and identifies among the main challenges, local content.
The minister acknowledged that the level of development of this process in oil and gas producing countries varies significantly, and the desired levels of satisfaction have not yet been reached.
“For this purpose, APPO has set up the Africa Local Content Roundtable, which aims to review policies and progress in the implementation of local content in member countries, especially in light of the global energy transition,” he added.
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