Page 12 - AfrOil Week 08 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

This is a positive development, since Nigeria’s economic benefits from this policy.”
hydrocarbon sector has not always benefited Abubakar is a member of the right-lean-
from the government’s management practices. ing People’s Democratic Party (PDP), one of
He reiterated his call for full privatisation Nigeria’s two main political factions. He served
of the oil-refining business, saying that Abuja as vice-president from 1999 to 2007, work-
ought to take this step sooner rather than later. ing under President Olosegun Obasanjo. He
Additionally, he argued for making the sell-offs was also appointed as the head of the National
“as transparent as possible, as that is the only Council on Privatisation (NCP), which Oba-
way to ensure that Nigeria reaps the greatest sanjo established in mid-1999. ™

Angolan MPs give green light to

exploration work in onshore basins

ANGOLA MEMBERS of Angola’s National Assembly have Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) divulged its plans for
voted to lift a ban on oil and gas exploration in exploration of these onshore areas earlier this
two environmentally sensitive onshore basins. month.
Legislators took this step last week, after The agency has called a limited public tender
President João Lourenço suggested amending inviting domestic contractors to bid for the right
the relevant laws to permit exploration work to study the environmental impact of the pro-
to go forward in the Kassanje and Etosha/Oka- ject and subsequent restoration and restocking
vango basins. This proposal has stirred up some efforts in the Kassanje and Etosha/Okavango
controversy, as some of the areas that will be basins. ™
opened up for exploration lie within protected
national reserves.
According to Petroleum and Mineral
Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo, the
change is not expected to have a major envi-
ronmental impact on the basins, as exploration
activities will only be carried out in a relatively
small area.
The amendment opens up no more than 5%
of the land area of these basins to exploration,
and future drilling sites are not likely to account
for 3% of the total, he stated.
Azevedo also pointed out that Angola would
not be the first country to permit exploration
and drilling in protected areas. Gabon, Norway
and the US have done the same, he said, adding:
“What we’re doing is not unheard of.”
He went on to say that exploration had the
potential to benefit these protected areas, as
well as local communities within the Kassanje
and Etosha/Okavango basins. If commercial
reserves of oil or gas are found, they can generate
revenues for local use, he told legislators.
Eufrazina Paiva, an environmental activist
based in Luanda, has been critical of the govern-
ment’s plans for exploring the onshore basins.
She was quoted by the Bloomberg agency as say-
ing last week that moving forward with explora-
tion might cause Angola to violate international
agreements, since it uses donor funding to cover
the cost of habitat protection campaigns.
Minister of Social Communications Nuno
Caldas Albino has said, though, that the gov-
ernment intends to uphold its commitment to
the protection of sensitive habitats.
Angola’s National Agency for Petroleum, Exploration will target the Kassanje and Etosha/Okavango basins (Image: Sonangol)

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