Africa-Press – Angola. Sonangol argues that it is urgent to promote innovation and green technologies in the operations of all companies in the Oil sector, according to its chairman of the Board of Directors.
According to Sebastião Gaspar Martins, this is one of Sonangol’s bets, as, at this time, the company is studying best practices that can be renewed, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the value chain. of oil operators.
According to Sonangol’s PCA, there needs to be a balance so as not to affect the country’s economic development, because Angola depends, to a large extent, on oil exploration.
“And this great resource must be considered, by us, as a victory and, therefore, we have to look at it in a balanced way, so that emissions do not put our society at risk”, highlighted the manager of the main public company from the country.
Regarding the results obtained so far by Sonangol, in terms of the fight against climate change, Sebastião Martins did not provide data on financial profitability, but preferred to focus on the organization’s social commitment to decarbonization.
The president of Sonangol valued the fact that the Angolan Government intends to transform the national oil company into a resilient company, to continue contributing to the country’s economic growth.
For the Sonangol manager, the tendency of all oil companies is to become energy operators and, in this case, the national company “is on the right path”.
Blue Carbon
Asked about the Carbono Azul project, Sebastião Martins informed that the balance of this activity is positive, as several initiatives are being developed in the province of Luanda that aim to make the environment healthier.
“The Sonangol Carbono Azul initiative is a project
continuous. This is a mangrove plantation that has to protect the coastal area against strong winds and cyclones, as well as stabilize soils against erosion and bio-filtration of pollutants,” he said.
For Sonangol, part of its social and operational responsibility plans takes into account the mangrove planting project in the country’s other provinces, in order to contribute to carbon capture.
Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo
Decarbonization deadline will observe several stages
The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, revealed that there is no set deadline for the country to achieve full decarbonization, as it is a long process.
Diamantino Azevedo argues that there must be a balance between the need to continue using oil and gas with the issue of climate change, because 90 percent of Angola’s revenues come from the exploration of oil, natural gas and diamonds.
Therefore, he added, the Angolan Government will continue to improve this decarbonization process to improve it even more, as long as there is oil to be explored.
He said that, sometimes, people present this issue of urgent decarbonization as if it were possible, to live without oil and gas: “It’s not possible. Therefore, we have to continue the fight until we reach a greater balance”.
The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas reinforced the idea that it is necessary to pay more attention, be more active and define policies that simply serve the issue of decarbonization and not the interests of third parties.
To slow down the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, at this Conference of the Parties – COP28, Angola, through the oil company Sonangol, is joining various initiatives aimed at the decarbonization of the oil and gas industry.
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