African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 894 Energy Pattern

East Africa is actually the country with the largest natural gas reserves in Africa, but this is also easy to understand. East Africa accounts for about 43% of the entire continent. If we follow the pattern of African countries in the past, Nigeria ranks first. , compared with the current land area of ​​East Africa and Nigeria, which is only more than 900,000 square kilometers, it is indeed bullying.

However, this also shows that Nigeria's conditions were considered to be the best in Africa in its previous life. The three major energy sources of coal, natural gas, and oil were at the forefront in Africa. Other resources are also very abundant. In addition, with vast arable land, there is no shortage of excellent ports. , it is not difficult to understand that it could develop into Africa's largest economy in its previous life.

 …

 The first town.

"According to the telegram from Bujumbura, our country's first natural gas plant has been successfully put into operation. This is great news for our country's energy security pattern." Von der Leyen said to Ernst with a smile on her face. Report to other officials.

There is no way around this. Since the discovery of oil in Lake Turkana, oil exploration work in various parts of East Africa has not gone smoothly. Only a few small oil fields have been discovered. On the contrary, many natural gas resources have been discovered during oil exploration, including Considerable natural gas fields have been discovered in the east.

Of course, according to the layout of East African oil, the current exploration work will naturally not go smoothly, because the oil in East Africa is mainly distributed in the north and west, and the development of these two areas in East Africa has weakened. Many areas have inconvenient transportation, sparsely populated areas, and unadvanced equipment. Exploration work under the influence of these comprehensive factors will naturally not go smoothly.

There is no need to worry too much about this. After all, Ernst knows the overall distribution of oil in East Africa. However, there is no need to rush to large-scale development in East Africa at the moment.

At present, the oil production in Turkana Oil City, plus imports, can basically meet domestic needs. East Africa's oil self-sufficiency rate remains at about 20%. If there is an emergency, it can completely increase the oil supply in a short time. The production capacity of Turkana Oil City can meet the oil demand across East Africa. After all, the current demand for oil in countries around the world is not too high.

"Energy exploration is a long and complex process. East Africa has a huge land area and many resources have not been discovered. And with the advancement of technology, many resources that cannot be used today may gain utilization value in the future," Ernst said. .

“Last year, we imported three million tons of oil from abroad, of which Tsarist Russia’s Baku oil field on the Caspian Sea accounted for about 35%, Romania accounted for about 30%, and Austria-Hungary accounted for 10%. About five, the rest are from the United States and other countries. Our country ranks at least among the top three in the world in terms of oil consumption. "

Last year, the oil consumption of one country in East Africa was close to 4 million tons. However, the current oil production in the world is only more than 10 million tons, less than 20 million tons. However, the local production in East Africa has not yet exceeded 1 million tons. From oil The import volume data also shows East Africa’s advanced layout in the petroleum industry.

At present, East Africa, or the Hechingen Consortium, has strategic deployments in Romania and Tsarist Russia, and has invested and constructed a large number of oil wells there. Especially in Romania, it can account for 30% of the imported oil in East Africa. The main reason is that the Hechingen Consortium controls a certain share of oil extraction. Although Romania is rich in oil resources, it is far less than Tsarist Russia's Baku Oil Field. Its production capacity is close to about 40% of the world's.

"A large amount of oil is imported, which costs a lot of money every year. In my country's energy use, as a source of power, the proportion is higher than that of other countries. This is mainly because the scale of my country's automobile industry and internal combustion engine field is higher than that of other countries. As for the chemical industry, it is lower than that of European and American countries.”

 The application of internal combustion engines in European and American countries is actually weaker than that in East Africa, because European and American countries themselves have the foundation of the first industrial revolution, and steam engines still have broad application space.

In short, it is the old industry of steam engines that has hindered the development of the internal combustion engine industry in Europe and the United States, especially in the fields of factories and fuel. Among the two main energy options of coal and oil, East Africa obviously prefers oil.

Of course, East Africa now has a third option, which is natural gas. However, compared with oil and coal, natural gas is not conducive to storage and transportation, so the initial investment and operating costs are higher. Just like the natural gas power station in Bujumbura, which is equipped with a dedicated natural gas transportation pipeline, it is simply impossible to achieve this by simply producing specialized storage containers.

 Petroleum only needs to be packed in barrels and does not require high air tightness. As for coal, it is even simpler. It is a solid fuel and does not require the production of special containers for transportation.

"Now, the main reason for relying on oil imports is that our country's oil resources are not rich, and most of them are located in inland areas, so the cost of extraction is relatively high. Unlike the oil from Romania and Tsarist Russia, it can be directly loaded on ships and shipped away. For this reason, we The Turkana Railway was specially built.”

 The main two purposes of the Turkana Railway at that time were border trade with the Abyssinian Empire and the transportation of Turkana oil to the south.

“Therefore, the development and utilization of natural gas is of great significance to my country’s economic and energy development. In the future, our country must make more efforts in the field of natural gas popularization, including natural gas power generation, residential fuel, and the chemical industry, which all have certain needs.”

 Everyone quite agrees with the application of natural gas in power generation and chemical industry, but when it comes to residential fuel, many people twitch the corners of their mouths.

Although we have seen the actual objects and usage demonstrations of gas stoves and gas tanks, there are still some psychological barriers to the acceptance of natural gas.

After all, if an accident happens to that thing, it is no different from a bomb. There is no problem in using one tank of gas to cover a kitchen. And not to mention the explosion, the leakage alone is extremely dangerous.

Ernst naturally noticed the wonderful expressions on the faces of the East African officials, but natural gas, after using it, would only say it smells great.

As a clean energy source, it does not produce a lot of smoke when burned like other fuels except electricity, and it occupies a small space. One tank of natural gas can be burned for a long time. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages, especially the experience that it completely outperforms other energy sources.

In addition to natural gas, the application of electricity in East African kitchens has also appeared. For example, rice cookers are the most popular appliances in East African urban households. They are very convenient for steaming rice and making porridge. In addition to rice cookers, they are the most popular in East African kitchens. A commonly used household appliance is the kettle.

"Natural gas does have certain safety hazards, but it is more of a psychological effect. Some people think that gas tanks are very risky, but more than a hundred years have passed since the British invented the gas tank. Before the advent of electricity, lighting at that time The system uses a large amount of gas tanks to store natural gas for use in gas lamps, so as long as the process standards are strictly followed and the production is carried out according to standard procedures, there is no need to worry about safety performance," Ernst said.

Of course, that being said, whether you can rest assured or not is another matter. However, based on previous experience, as long as it is popularized, there will basically not be any big problems in the future.

"In the national energy landscape, the four major categories of oil, electricity, coal, and natural gas are the key promotion targets in East Africa in the future. Although we have no shortage of coal, the utilization rate is too low. You must know that the quality of East African coal is among the best in the world. It is of the highest quality, so we must continue to improve and perfect it in terms of craftsmanship and technology.”

 (End of this chapter)