Chapter 894 Energy Structure

East Africa is actually the country with the largest natural gas reserves in Africa. However, this is easy to understand. The territory of East Africa accounts for about 43% of the total area of ​​Africa. If we follow the pattern of African countries in the previous life, Nigeria would rank first. The current land area of ​​East Africa is indeed bullying compared with Nigeria, which is only more than 900,000 square kilometers.

However, this also indirectly shows that the conditions of Nigeria as a country were the best in Africa in the past. The three major energy sources of coal, natural gas, and oil are all ranked at the forefront in Africa, and other resources are also very abundant. In addition, there is vast arable land and no shortage of excellent ports. It is not difficult to understand why it was able to develop into the largest economy in Africa in the past.

…

First town city.

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

There is no way around it. Since the discovery of oil in Lake Turkana, oil exploration in East Africa has not been smooth. Only a few small oil fields have been found. On the contrary, a lot of natural gas resources have been discovered during oil exploration, including sizable natural gas fields in the central and eastern parts.

Of course, according to the layout of East African oil, the current exploration work will naturally not be smooth, because East Africa's oil is mainly distributed in the north and west, and East Africa's development of these two regions has weakened. Many areas have inconvenient transportation, sparse population, and backward equipment. Under the influence of these combined factors, the exploration work will naturally not be smooth.

There is no need to worry too much about this. After all, Ernst knows the overall distribution of oil in East Africa. It’s just that there is no need to rush for large-scale development in East Africa at present.

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

"Energy exploration is a long and complicated process. East Africa has a vast territory and many resources have not been discovered. Moreover, with technological advances, many resources that cannot be used today may be able to be utilized in the future," Ernst said.

"Last year, we imported three million tons of oil from abroad, of which about 35 percent came from Russia's Baku oil field in the Caspian Sea, about 30 percent from Romania, about 15 percent from Austria-Hungary, and the rest from the United States and other countries. In terms of oil consumption, my country ranks at least among the top three in the world."

Last year, the oil consumption of East African countries alone was close to 4 million tons, while the current global oil production is only more than 10 million tons, less than 20 million tons, and East Africa's local production has not yet exceeded 1 million tons. The oil import data also shows East Africa's advanced layout in the field of oil industry.

At present, Tsarist Russia has strategic deployments in East Africa, or the Black Xingen Consortium in Romania, and has invested in and built a large number of oil wells in the local area, especially in Romania, which accounts for 30% of the imported oil in East Africa. The main reason for this is that the Black Xingen Consortium controls a certain share of oil production. It should be noted that although Romania is rich in oil resources, it is far less than Tsarist Russia's Baku oil field, whose production capacity is close to about 40% of the world's.

"We import a lot of oil, which costs a lot of money every year. As a power source, our country's energy use accounts for a higher proportion than other countries. This is mainly because the scale of our automobile industry and internal combustion engine field is larger than other countries, while the chemical industry is lower than that of European and American countries."

The application of internal combustion engines in Europe and the United States is actually weaker than that in East Africa, because Europe and the United States themselves have the foundation of the First Industrial Revolution and there is still a broad application space for steam engines.

In short, it is the old industry of steam engines that hindered the development of the internal combustion engine industry in Europe and the United States, especially in the two areas of factories and fuel. Between the two main energy options of coal and oil, East Africa clearly 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 easy to store and transport, so the initial investment and operating costs are higher.

Just like the Bujumbura natural gas power station, which is equipped with a dedicated natural gas transportation pipeline, it would be impossible to achieve this by simply producing special storage containers.

Oil only needs to be packed in barrels, which does not require high airtightness. 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 why we rely on oil imports is that our oil resources are not abundant 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, we can directly load it on nearby ships and transport it away. For this reason, we specially built the Turkana Railway."

The two main purposes of the Turkana Railway at the 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, my country needs to work harder in the field of natural gas popularization, including natural gas power generation, residential fuel, and chemical industry, which all have certain demands."

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

Although people have seen gas stoves and gas tanks in person and have seen demonstrations of their use, there are still some psychological barriers to accepting natural gas.

After all, if something happens with that thing, it would be no different from a bomb. One tank of gas could easily destroy an entire kitchen. Not to mention the explosion, just the leakage would be extremely dangerous.

Ernst naturally noticed the wonderful expressions on the faces of the East African officials, but when it comes to natural gas, after using it, one can only say that it smells really good.

As a clean energy source, it does not produce a lot of smoke when burned like other fuels except electricity, and it takes up little space. A tank of natural gas can burn for a long time. Its advantages outweigh its disadvantages, especially in terms of user experience, which is far superior to other energy sources.

In addition to natural gas, electricity has also been used in East African kitchens. For example, the electric rice cooker has been popularized to a certain extent in East African urban households. It is very convenient to use it to steam rice and cook porridge. In addition to the rice cooker, the most commonly used household appliance in East African kitchens is the kettle.

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

Of course, that being said, whether or not everyone feels at ease with it is another matter. However, based on past experience, as long as it is promoted, there will basically not be any major problems later on.

"In the national energy landscape, the four major categories of oil, electricity, coal and natural gas are the key targets for 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 the best in the world, so we must continue to improve and perfect the process and technology."

(End of this chapter)