Frankfurt/Main, 20/03/2022: The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published an article on the subject of importing natural gas and how we can obtain it from suppliers other than Russia. A particular focus is on Africa and the pipelines leading to Europe.
Stefan Liebing was also featured and discussed Africa’s potential: There are rich deposits on the African continent, but the necessary infrastructure is lacking. Some ambitious natural gas projects have been stuck since the 1970s. The Ukraine war could now provide a boost. Appeals to accelerate investments recently came from the German-African Business Association in Berlin. According to Stefan Liebing, president of the association, Germany and Europe must now quickly make up for what they have missed in the past 20 years: a diversification of natural gas suppliers. Economics Minister Robert Habeck should also travel to Africa, because in the short term African countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and Angola could and would supply liquefied gas to Europe in order to “reduce our dependence on Russian imports”. At the same time, Europe could thus economically support African countries that have been hit hard by the consequences of the Ukraine war through higher fuel and food prices. For Liebing, countries such as Ghana, Libya, Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania are also possible suppliers if the infrastructure is built up on both sides of the Mediterranean. This could later also be used to transport green hydrogen from Africa to Europe, the association adds. In several African countries such as Namibia, South Africa, Niger and Mauritania, projects worth billions are currently being launched to produce hydrogen using solar and wind energy.
Source (paywall): https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/erdgas-aus-afrika-statt-aus-russland-17892459.html