Today, 18th November 2024, IGU’s Secretary General – Menelaos (Mel) Ydreos and IGU’s Director for Strategy and Advocacy – Mark McCrory doubled down on the first day of The World Energy Capital Assembly (WECA) held in London, United Kingdom.
Considered to be one of the most important events of the global upstream energy industry and organised by the Energy Council, this year’s event offered an unrivalled platform for C-suite energy executives, investors, financiers and innovators to forge long-term partnerships, secure reliable capital and discover new ventures that align with your strategic goals.
IGU’s Mark McCrory moderated the “Africa in Transition” Panel, debating the complex topic of leveraging finance to develop Africa’s fossil and renewable resources to achieve energy sustainability. McCrory’s panel was attended by high-ranking representatives from Gambia National Petroleum Corporation, Uganda National Oil Company, Seplat Energy, Sintana Energy and Standard Chartered Bank.
The panel addressed the issue of a changing investment landscape, shifting from traditional oil investments to oil and gas investments, with the domestic energy requirements starting to come to the fore, catching up with conventional monetisation of African oil and gas resources for exports. It was made abundantly clear during this very frank conversation among the panellists and the IGU moderator that a largely colonial approach of “one size fits all” cannot and should not be applied to Africa and its energy needs and priorities.
Following from McCrory’s “Africa in Transition” panel, IGU’s Secretary General took to the stage as a panellist in the “US in the Spotlight – evolving to meet Europe’s changing LNG needs” panel, as Mr Ydreos is globally recognised for his vast experience and expertise in the gas – and LNG – sector.
Joining Ydreos on the panel were high-ranking executives from Cheniere Energy, Staghorn Petroleum and Prudential Private Capital, and they debated a rather contentious topic for the gas industry in US and Europe: the ongoing issues surrounding the EU/US methane regulations. These issues, alongside a lack of regulatory clarity, pose a challenge to the US LNG exports to Europe, as it is exceptionally complex to tie back US upstream methane emissions to the wellhead the gas came from.
Unless a pragmatic solution is soon reached, Ydreos’ panel argued, Europe is likely to face security of supply issues during the upcoming winter in Europe, especially on the back of the current escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The panellists also agreed that the LNG market is highly effective at responding to market signals and that the US LNG is uniquely flexible in responding to need across the globe. If the American gas infrastructure is expedited and built, the US can become the Saudi Arabia of global gas production and supply.
