Energy transition: African nations must focus on strategic national interest — CEO Heritage Energy,  Ado Oseragbaje

As global energy industry races towards energy transition, African countries must focus on their strategic national interests in order to sustain development and regional survival. These were the words of Chief Executive Officer, Ado Oseragbaje, of UK based Heritage Oil Limited and its Nigeria subsidiary, Heritage energy Operational Services Limited (HEOSL) at the recent Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja Nigeria.

Ado was speaking during a panel discussion with other Nigerian energy industry leaders on the role of National Oil Corporations in stimulating accelerated sustained development of hydrocarbon in Africa.  Noting that the key role of NOCs is to help drive national development in their various countries, Ado posited that every African nation must prioritise energy security above other factors in the energy transition process.

He affirmed that energy transition should be consistent with the strategic interest of each country and region. This, he said, was accentuated by how quickly key European countries opened the coal mines in the wake of the threats to energy supplies following the Russian-Ukraine war.

“Each country is in a different phase of the energy transition, and each country must therefore prioritise to reflect strategic national and regional interests,” he added.

The Nigeria International Energy Summit is the largest gathering of oil and gas industry players as well as policy makers in the West African Region. This year’s event featured high level participation from various African countries, including Algeria, Benin Republic, Libya, Egypt, Ghana, Equitoria Guinea, Republic of the Congo as well as other key global industry organization such as OPEC and others.