To militate against importation of substandard petroleum products in the sub Saharan region of West Africa, an online business facilitation platform that connects African energy companies to financiers from all over the world, PUTTRU Technologies Limited, has advocated a partnership between European Union (EU) and ECOWAS.
The chief executive officer of PUTTRU, Monica Maduekwe, in a recent chat with The Nation, advocated a bilateral partnership between EU and ECOWAS in terms of fuel quality, while Federal Government intensifies efforts at maximising the refining capacity of the region.
According to her, the EU has taken an energy diplomacy position which includes the possibility of implementing a carbon border adjustment (CBA) mechanism. The CBA is a policy intended to discourage carbon leakages, importation of carbon intensive products into the EU, as well as protect the competitiveness of EU industries operating within a carbon tax system.
“As the EU continues to adopt more stringent environmental standards in general, EU products that do not meet these standards will be exported to other markets, like we have seen with the high methanol fuel imported to Nigeria recently. This, therefore, presents an opportunity for ECOWAS and EU countries to collaborate to ensure that the EU does not become the exporter of substandard products to the developing world,” Maduekwe said.
While stressing PUTTRU’s commitment to bridging the energy gaps in the continent in a sustainable manner, she revealed that the company had kicked off its five-year plan aimed at consolidating on the gains of its first year of operation in Africa’s energy sector, where it attracted a project pipeline of $3.8b.
“PUTTRU received requests to mobilise finance for projects in oil and gas, renewables, construction and other sectors. About 75 percent of all project transactions received were from Nigeria, while the country still accounted for 97 percent of the total value of the projects ($3.8b), predominantly in the upstream oil and gas projects, last year,” she said, adding that in the coming years, PUTTRU will continue to leverage these factors in growing its market share.