According to the vice president of Sinopec Angola, a Chinese oil company focused on distribution and refining, Paulo Pizarro, there is an energy transition process underway "and, on the other hand, there are many opportunities and also many challenges in Africa".
"I think that the energy transition and investments in the energy transition is a long process and Africa cannot be delayed in this and Angola much less, we have to start investing now, we have a very high potential", said the official.
Angola "has already made an agreement with Germany in relation to hydrogen and we believe that there is great potential for us to develop hydrogen, the energy of the future, from solar and water energy".
"And we have great potential in Angola and Africa and we cannot go through the argument of using fossil fuels to make the transition later, we have an opportunity to seriously invest in this energy transition now," he told journalists.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 8th edition of the African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE), which began this Monday in Luanda, the sector businessman pointed to "political barriers", such as "some of the constraints" that must be overcome.
"I think it's a matter of making a study to overcome the various barriers, which are often political, to implement the energy transition", he highlighted.
Political will because, argued Paulo Pizarro, "there is a concept that the oil industry produces very high revenues, although it is very complex, it is easy to make agreements and develop the extractive industry in Africa".
"Which is basically the main source of income for many African countries and it is necessary to overcome this", he noted.
"Energy Transition, Challenges and Opportunities in the African Oil and Gas Industry" is the motto of this CAPE VIII, which brings together in Luanda the 15 members of the African Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (APPO) and five other observer countries .
The congress, promoted by APPO, with the support of the Angolan Government and operators in the sector, will take place until Thursday in the capital.
The topic of renewable energies "is also an opportunity to promote collaboration between different African countries, between companies and regulators in different countries, to overcome such obstacles and create some sustainable industry".
"Not only a production oil industry, but the entire support network, all local content, to promote economic and social growth and benefit all of Africa, which still consumes very little", he pointed out.
Sinopec "also invests in renewable energies, at the moment we are building the two largest green hydrogen production plants in the world, one in China and the other in Mongolia, because we believe that this hydrogen energy is of the future".
In terms of the "upstream" (extraction and production of fuel), the Chinese oil company, which has already invested more than US$20 billion in Angola, has a presence in the African country through non-operated stakes in several blocks.
"We are in several blocks, but we do not operate, we have non-operated stakes, we have already invested more than US$20 billion in Angola and we are betting on this market because we believe in Angola", concluded Paulo Pizarro.
The event was opened this Monday by President João Lourenço.
