africa

Africa at a Fork in the Road: Taking Off or Disappointment Once Again?
4
Increasing the volume of gas-fired generation benefits the private sector on three margins, directly
by improving the reliability of supply and reducing the cost of generation (gas is significantly cheaper
than oil per thermal unit of power generated) and by reducing the need for extensive and expensive
stand-by generator capacity.
5
Liquefied natural gas is natural gas that is pressurised and cooled to -161° c. LNG is transported
across oceans by specialist tanker prior to “re-gasification” into pipeline systems or other processing
facilities in the destination countries.
6
A “train” in this context is the plant’s liquefaction and purification facility; these are of broadly constant
scale so that the overall size of an LNG plant is measured by how many trains are bolted together.
7
The high supply elasticity reflects a number of factors that have contributed to the rapid expansion
of the US shale market: flexible property rights (which allow for small-scale fracking); a large and
well-developed oil and gas service sector; and plentiful supplies of water and financial markets well
placed to finance high risk ventures).
8
In practice, increased exports are likely to come from Canada as US domestic production crowds
out imports from Canada. The net effect for the rest of the world is, however, the same.
9
Million metric British thermal units.
10
This section draws heavily on IMF (2014).
11
See IMF (2014).
12
IMF (2014) notes that this limit ensures that there is always a revenue yield to government.
13
This assumes a population growth rate of approximately 2.5 percent per year.
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