Nigeria has advised Europe to provide appropriate policy framework for their banks to facilitate their investment Africa’s in oil and gas sector.
Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said, Europe should significantly back investment in gas and provide a policy framework that enables European banks to invest in hydrocarbons across Africa.
He made the comment at the Gastech conference in Milan.
Focusing on gas production in Africa is ‘a no-brainer,’ with 600 million people living without electricity in Africa and 740 billion feet, 22.2 billion meters of gas reserves on the continent, Timipre Sylva said.
Increased gas production, he said, would also help the continent’s 900 million people who live without access to clean cooking fuels, provide massive job opportunities and allow the emergence of a new alternative supplier for Europe, a ‘win-win for Europe and Africa.’
And it is in Europe’s own interest ‘to reduce discriminatory investment rules that the banks are doing,’ Sylva said.
The minister said, he had previously told European officials that they ‘must provide the appropriate policy framework for your banks, so that they can invest in oil and gas.’
