Page 12 - AfrOil Week 46 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Eriksson said in a press release that the two indi- “Besides this, we will rely on written reports
viduals strongly deny the charges of complicity from the area, primarily from the United
in crime against international law in Sudan and Nations and other international organisations as
have the full support of the Board in contesting well as from journalists who observed the area,”
the indictment at trial. Likewise, the company said Public Prosecutor Karolina Wieslander.
has expressed concern about the fairness, reli- After Lundin had found oil in Block 5A, the
ability and legal basis of the investigation and Sudanese military, along with a militia group
the credibility and accuracy of the reports by allied to the regime in 1999, led operations to
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that take control of the area to pave the way for explo-
seem to form the basis of the prosecution case. ration. This led to fighting until Lundin Oil left
A report published in 2010 by the European in 2003.
Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) alleged Lun- “Investigation shows the military and its
din Oil and three other firms exacerbated war allied militia systematically attacked civilians
in southern Sudan by signing an oil exploration or carried out indiscriminate attacks. Many
agreement with the Sudanese government for an civilians were killed, injured and displaced from
area the regime did not fully control. Block 5A,” said the Head of Investigation, Public
The court will hear witnesses who followed Prosecutor Henrik Attorps.
and studied the situation in Sudan and, among The prosecution authority disclosed that
other things, met refugees and heard their sto- there was a claim for the confiscation from Lun-
ries. The evidence also includes the testimony din Energy of SEK1.4bn ($161mn), equivalent
of a large number of civilians who were subject in value to the profit of SEK720mn made by the
to attacks. firm on its sale of the business in 2003. ™

IGU urges support for renewable gases

REGIONAL GOVERNMENT policies to promote the use of delivering on emission goals in the nearer term,
so-called green gases such as biogas and hydro- the IGU said.
gen are falling far short of the support needed to “Given the scale of the decarbonisation
realise their potential in decarbonising the gas challenge, and the need for as many worka-
grid, the International Gas Union (IGU) warned ble solutions as possible to ease the pains of a
in a report published on November 10. global energy transition, all forms of renewable
The IGU, which represents dozens of gas gas should be pursued as quickly as possible,”
companies across the world, estimates that the union continued. “This will require strong
enough sustainable biogas could be produced and clear policy support from governments
to replace about 20% of current natural gas globally, robust entrepreneurial initiative from
demand globally. But the current production the incumbent industry players and disruptors
of biogas and bio-methane equates to just 1% of alike.”
total global gas output, with more than half of Access to capital will be essential for hydro-
that concentrated in Europe, with another 25% gen and biogas projects being realised, the IGU
located in China. The current pipeline of pro- stressed.
jects will produce 20 times less than this. Kang said there was a problem with a lack of
And while many countries see hydrogen transparency regarding the volume and pricing
development as essential for realising their car- of renewable gases. He added that “developing
bon goals, the increase in low-carbon hydrogen effective growth strategies requires an under-
production has been limited in the past five standing of the baseline, and that is what we aim
years, the IGU said. Today, low-carbon hydro- to establish with this series.” ™
gen output accounts for just 0.03% of worldwide
natural gas output.
“The current level of planned and installed
production capacity for renewable and low-car-
bon gases appears negligible compared to the
stated plans, and that must be changed,” IGU
president Joe Kang commented. “This report is a
call to action on all fronts – policy, industry, and
the financial community. We all need to play our
part if there really will be a practicable gaseous
energy revolution.”
Though policymakers have far more inter-
est in hydrogen than bio-methane, the latter is
already produced in far greater quantities and
so it needs to be recognised as a key tool for The IGU has called for increasing biogas and hydrogen output (File Photo)

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