You're climate criminals, Extinction Rebellion activists tell oil week delegates

Pools of “oil” and “blood” greeted delegates at the start of Africa Oil Week in Cape Town on Tuesday.

It was the first of a series of non-violent protests planned by climate-change activists Extinction Rebellion, and coincided with the opening of the conference by minerals and energy minister Gwede Mantashe.

The protesters threw fake oil and fake blood at the pedestrian and vehicle entrances of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, and displayed a banner accusing delegates of being “climate criminals”.

Extinction Rebellion Cape Town is part of a global network demanding the declaration of a climate emergency. It called on Mantashe and Western Cape premier Alan Winde, also due to speak on Tuesday, “to make an open statement at the Africa Oil Week declaring a climate emergency and withdrawing any support to climate criminals who are complicit in the demise of our planet”.

An Extinction Rebellion statement said conference organisers had “omitted even the faintest reference to climate change in their programme, which is inconceivably irresponsible considering the severity of our ecological situation”.

In an annual review of the African oil and gas industry, released to coincide with the conference, professional services network PwC said further growth was imminent “in the wake of new resource finds, technological advances and improved governance”.

Andries Rossouw of PwC said: “Renewed optimism has returned to Africa’s oil and gas industry on the back of a rebound in prices and increased investor interest.”

Mozambique was poised to become the world’s third-largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), after Qatar and Australia.

“Globally, natural gas will continue to see growth and is expected to overtake coal by 2030 to become the world’s second leading fuel. Natural gas accounts for just under a quarter of global energy demand, of which 9.6% was supplied as LNG in 2018,” said Rossouw.

“The increasing regulatory drive to decarbonise is also expected to reduce the share of coal in the global energy mix and drive demand for natural gas.”