Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, said the U.S. and Nigeria are working closely toward convening a maiden Energy Security Dialogue in 2024.

Mr Pyatt announced this at a digital news conference on Wednesday following a U.S.-Angola energy security dialogue to strengthen U.S.-Africa Energy Partnerships in Luanda, Angola.

The Angola ESD was the first in-person dialogue in sub-Saharan Africa to be held during U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.

Mr Pyatt said that the U.S.-Nigeria ESD would include a broad agenda, including decarbonising fossil energy production, accelerating clean energy deployment, and liquified natural gas.

He said other issues to be discussed during the event would be the challenges of the global gas market, critical minerals, energy access, grid interconnections, and partnerships.

The U.S. envoy said Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell had discussed the prospective dialogue with Nigerian government officials during his recent visit to Nigeria, after which he took it up.

According to him, the dialogue will also involve a business element whereby U.S. and Nigerian companies come together to explore opportunities and push their governments to accelerate the deepening of their energy partnerships.

He noted that for most of Sub-Saharan Africa, the number one energy priority was energy access, which is how to deliver the expanded volumes of energy that citizens need to meet their aspirations for uplifting their situation.  

The envoy said the U.S. was partnering with Sub-Saharan African countries to provide massive access to energy, adding that American companies were already partners in that regard, operating in Angola, Mozambique, and Nigeria, among others.

He said the most crucial issues on the U.S-Africa energy partnership agenda include tackling climate change challenges and addressing energy transition through partnerships.

Mr Pyatt said Nigeria and Angola, two of Africa’s largest oil producers, are important countries with a globally significant capacity to produce crude oil, hence their ESD significance.

(NAN)