Electricity drives opportunity in the modern world. Industrial activity and critical infrastructure from telecommunications to transportation rely on electricity – access to reliable and affordable energy is essential to virtually every aspect of our increasingly dynamic and interconnected world. At present, however, about two-thirds of citizens in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity.
The Power Africa Initiative, started in 2013 and reinforced by the Electrify Africa Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2016, addresses this challenge by bringing together technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world in partnership to build human capacity and promote projects that will bring electric power to millions of people in Africa.
Natural gas development provides an important bridge to a cleaner energy future and could enable public entities and private companies to generate more power from abundant indigenous resources while also generating badly needed revenue from exports of gas as LNG. For those countries with resource potential, developing LNG can provide cleaner fuels for generating electricity, producing industry feedstocks, and fueling industries. LNG trade can also promote growth through participation in regional and global markets.
With these challenges and opportunities in mind, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Offices of International Affairs and Fossil Energy with assistance from the U.S. Energy Association and funding from USAID/Power Africa created an LNG handbook, “Understanding LNG and Natural Gas Options.” This is the third volume in Power Africa's Understanding Series of handbooks, outlining best practices for developing energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. This handbook focuses on the factors that exporting or importing nations on the continent need to consider when making decisions about natural gas development in general and more specifically the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. These natural gas projects are necessary to monetize resource development and promote intra-regional gas trade.
Power Africa is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to help build human capacity in the region to realize - and accelerate – natural gas development projects. This handbook is intended to inform decision-makers considering options to develop natural gas resources. We hope this handbook will help decision makers develop LNG export and import projects in Africa.
In preparation for drafting this handbook, DOE sponsored a series of workshops with African government counterparts and private sector LNG experts including industry experts in project development and management, operations, law, and finance. These workshops identified broad factors that promote successful LNG projects and also identified a network of interested experts, some of whom were able to join us as authors of the handbook, and others who were unable to join, but whose insights were valuable to the success of our effort.
A diverse group of global experts created this handbook that we hope can help to create a shared understanding between government officials and companies of technical, commercial, and economic factors that will spur investment in Africa. This handbook focuses on key factors for assessing LNG projects while also touching on commercial models, infrastructure models, and the outlook for LNG markets and emerging regional trade opportunities. The handbook does not promote any specific business model, but rather is a reference document that we hope will help to facilitate better communication between partners considering projects.
The handbook was produced using the Book Sprint method, which allows for the drafting, editing and publishing of a complete product by experts in just five days. The group of experts, all whom contributed their time on a pro-bono basis, included contributors from governments, development banks, consultants, academics, and international oil companies. The outcome is a product that reflects teamwork within the author group rather than the personal opinions of the authors or the institutions they represent. Pictures from the drafting event can be found here.
Our goal is that this product will be a living document open to constant improvement. We hope this project and the surrounding dialog will improve information flow and build human capacity.
At its heart, the goal of this handbook is to provide the reader with insight not only into those issues that matter most to them, but also a glimpse into the perspectives and motivations of other stakeholders. Such insight can help parties reach agreement and limit delays resulting from misunderstandings and adversarial positions.
The first version of the handbook can be downloaded here. If you have any questions or want to send feedback - or just want to comment on the program - feel free to send an email to Jim Jewell at james.jewell@hq.doe.gov or phone +1-202-586-2881.
You can also download the slides outlining the thought process that emerged from our series of workshops here and a list of the participants in these workshops whose insights were critical to the development of the book.
We would like to acknowledge and thank all of the authors who wrote the handbook (in alphabetical order):
Ezekiel Adesina, Senior Business & Strategy Analyst, Nigeria LNG limited, Nigeria
Ben Asante, Gas Advisor, Ministry of Petroleum, Ghana
Natalia Camba, Head of Supervision & Safety National Institute of Petroleum, Mozambique
Fisoye Delano, Senior Vice President (Gas & Power), CAMAC International Ltd, United States; Adjunct Professor, University of Ibadan, Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), Nigeria
Richard Donohoe, Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group, United States
Nicholas J. Fulford, Global Head of Gas & LNG, Gaffney, Cline & Associates, United States
Paulino Gregorio, Advisor to the Board, Empresa Nacional De Hidrocarbonetos, Mozambique
James Jewell, International Energy Analyst, Office of International Affairs, Middle East and Africa, U.S. Department of Energy
U.H. (Paul) Jones, Retired ExxonMobil LNG Executive, United States
Sally Kornfeld, Division Director, International Oil and Natural Gas Engagement, U.S. Department of Energy
Eng. Joyce Kisamo, Technical Advisor, President's Office, Tanzania
Melanie Lovatt, Finance Advisor, Business Intelligence, Poten & Partners, London
Norman Lee, Commercial Manager, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Nigeria
John Mauel, Head of Energy Transactions, Norton Rose Fulbright, United States
Susan Sakmar, Visiting Law Professor, University of Houston Law Center, United States
Harry Sullivan, Assistant General Counsel, Kosmos Energy Limited; Adjunct Professor, Texas A&M University School of Law; Adjunct Professor, SMU, Dedman School of Law, United States
Thomas Viot, Principal Domestic Linkages Officer, African Natural Resources Center African Development Bank, Ivory Coast
We would like to thank Book Sprint and their facilitator, Faith Bosworth, and the off-site Book Sprint team, for this successful collaborative endeavor.
We would also like to thank the Department of Energy Africa Task Force, particularly Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Christopher Smith for his active involvement and leadership, and co-chairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Eurasia, Andrea Lockwood and Associate Deputy Secretary John MacWilliams for their support and leadership. We would like to thank the following members and former members of the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Energy Association teams who have participated in this project. Without their tireless efforts this book would not exist; Steven Davidson, Natenna Dobson, Allison Good, Devin Hampton, Geoff Lyon, Alia Mohammed, Andrew Palmateer, Heather Greenley, James Jewell, and Marjorie Jean-Pierre.
