U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry Wednesday emphasized the reversal of the U.S.’s position from energy importer to exporter in a bid to supply power, energy issues, including liquefied natural gas supply for electricity generation, to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and South Africa.
“We talked about a lot of opportunities — LNG, coal, but it all goes to the issue of power and power being able to be delivered into places that don’t take electricity for granted, he said in Cape Town on Wednesday during a visit to South Africa.
The United States wants to be partners with Nigeria, South Africa and throughout the continent,” Perry said.
About 600 million Africans lack direct access to power, according to Daniel Silke, director of Political Futures Consultancy in Cape Town. Increasing power generation through a shift from oil to gas and renewables is “what’s going to drive this continent,” he said at the Africa Oil Week conference in the city.
“American LNG is going out to the world,” he said on Tuesday in an address to the conference.
Projects by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Exxon to convert gas discoveries in Mozambique to LNG are welcome even as the U.S. seeks to boost its own shipments, according to Perry. “Competition is a fabulous thing,” he said.
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