Africa should satisfy its own natural gas needs first before considering exports in the wake of the growing interest among European countries, which is linked to the Russian-Ukraine war, experts have cautioned.

These were the viewpoints at the end of the parallel session of the Africa Investment Forum 2022 Market Days held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, from 2 to 4 November. The session was titled "Natural Gas and the African Continent: what's the role of Africa's natural gas in responding to the global energy deficit?".

Many gas-producing countries in Africa, including Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, and Mozambique, have committed to supplying Europe, panelists learned.

Various oil and gas sector actors participated in the panel. They included Henry Menkiti, head of development at the Sahara Group, an international energy and infrastructure conglomerate working in more than 38 African countries; Fola Fagbule, head of financial advisory at the Africa Finance Corporation, specializing in infrastructure financing in Africa, and Adly Kafafy, vice-president of the Egyptian company, Taqa Arabia.

Fagbule noted that gas has become essential for the continent. "Our population is growing, and we have a deficit in energy access, whereas Africa has considerable gas reserves and is contributing to the global supply." He added, "So we should meet our nations' needs, which would involve strengthening gas development structures, creating local markets in a supply chain, and putting in place the necessary infrastructure."

For example, Fagbule pointed to Nigeria, where an ecosystem for gas development has been created. That model, he said, could be reproduced on a large scale on the continent. "It's an important topic to put on the African free-trade zone agenda," he added.

Menkiti enumerated other projects supplying African gas to Europe. "Algeria, Egypt and Morocco are sending gas to Spain and France. Egypt and Israel have an agreement to export gas to other European countries. The Total Group has invested in an offshore project in Mozambique. Now, Senegal is ready to launch a large gas development project. Africa must see that it able to provide to the European Union, because it must meet its own needs itself. "

Kafafy said: "We shouldn't wait; we must help Africa develop its own gas resources. If we must provide them (Europe) with natural gas, they must also provide us with financing for our infrastructure." He pointed out, "Today, we cannot find adequate financing to invest in gas development and extraction."

The Africa Investment Forum 2022 is an innovative investment market bringing together African leaders and government heads, on the one hand, and project promoters, private and public investors, capital investment ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZcompanies, philanthropists, and sovereign funds on the other.