The United States Department of Energy (USDOE), funded by Power Africa, collaborated with the United States Energy Association (USEA) to convene a group of natural gas experts to write a handbook on natural gas and LNG project  development for African countries. Under the guidance of the USDOE and USEA, the participants spent five intensive days collaborating using the Book Sprint method to complete an LNG handbook. Their commitment and consistent participation was essential to the success of the “Understanding Natural Gas and LNG Options” handbook.

The handbook features perspectives from a wide range of experts from all over the world. The group of experts, all of whom contributed their time on a pro-bono basis, included contributors from governments, a regional development bank, industry, financiers, consultants, authors, academicians, and law firms. This handbook focuses on key issues to assess and plan LNG projects. The report does not promote any specific business model, but rather offers a reference document facilitating a better understanding of the options, and the stakeholder shared aims, for developing LNG projects.

With a focus on enabling the development of more gas-to-power projects, this handbook is intended to help inform decision makingon options to develop the natural gas sector and specifically provide a framework to evaluate LNG export projects critical to monetizing many of the large natural gas finds on the continent. Natural gas and LNG development can enable critical economic resource development and stimulate further investment in national infrastructure. It is with this effort, that this handbook and any following dialogue will improve information flow and build human capacity for natural gas development and its linkage to power generation, energy security, and economic growth in Africa.

The Power Africa initiative was launched in 2013, bringing together technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world to work in partnership to achieve the goal of expanding electricity generation and access. Natural gas development could provide a cleaner and more reliable source of fuel for power generation in many sub-Saharan African countries.

You can read the beta version of “Understanding Natural Gas and LNG Options” by clicking this hyperlink.