Africa has failed to benefit from its abundant gas reserves and could be running out of time to do so, IEA warns

The IEA's 2022 Africa Energy Outlook also revealed that African continent has benefitted the least from the global gas wealth, even though it has been facing most of the consequences resulting from greenhouse emissions.

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The irony of the situation is such that millions of Africans do not even currently have the "privilege" of cooking with gas and having their homes lit up with gas-powered electricity, let alone benefit from the immense financial wealth associated with the natural resource. The IEA's Executive Director, Dr Faith Birol, described it as "gas poverty".

“Africa has had the raw end of the deal from the fossil fuel-based economy, receiving the smallest benefits and the biggest drawbacks, as underlined by the current energy crisis,” the IEA's Executive Director said.

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Unfortunately, the continent might now be running out of time to benefit from said immense gas wealth. And that's because the world is gradually transitioning to green energy use.

To this end, the IEA has called for concerted effort from both African governments and the international community to urgently build the necessary infrastructure that will enable the continent take advantage of its gas reserves before the transition takes effect.

READ: 10 African countries with the highest petrol prices as of March 2022

Business Insider Africa understands that this could be actualised over the next 8 years, by investing at least $25 billion per annum

“The immediate and absolute priority for Africa and the international community is to bring modern and affordable energy to all Africans – and our new report shows this can be achieved by the end of this decade through annual investment of $25 billion, the same amount needed to build just one new LNG terminal a year. It is morally unacceptable that the ongoing injustice of energy poverty in Africa isn’t being resolved when it is so clearly well within our means to do so,” the report further quoted Dr Birol to have said.

The report further noted that even though renewable energy presents immense opportunities for Africa, the continent's industrialisation would still rely mainly on natural gas over the long-term. Therefore, there is the need to develop the sector now in order to fully harness its potentials.