Oil companies, convinced that the recovery of the hydrocarbon sectors, particularly in Africa, goes hand in hand with vaccination, are helping with inoculation programs. Some are investing in the lucrative market for vaccine storage.
Covid-19 has over the past year forced oil companies to reinvent themselves and get involved in sectors in which they previously had little interest.
This month, for example, Shell donated $10 million to the World Health Organizations (WHO) Covax program, which aims to provide vaccines to low-income countries. The initiative covers sub-Saharan Africa, a region where Shell is active in countries such as Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, and Nigeria.
The oil sector is one of the hardest hit by the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, and in the hope of improving their image while serving their own interests, oil companies have been contributing financially to vaccine research.
ExxonMobil, which also has a strong presence on the continent, particularly in Mozambique, announced last June that it had invested money in a European vaccine research program although it did not specify how much.
In South Africa, natural gas and helium producer Renergen announced in mid-February that it was starting production of a mobile ultra-cold helium freezer. These ultra-low temperature storage solutions are essential for the preservation of Pfizer vaccines that will later be sold to logistics and transport companies.
Renergen director Stefano Marani hopes to export the product to the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, which comprises 16 countries from the Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa.
In its latest financial statement published on February 22, South African petrochemical giant Sasol highlighted the role played by one of its products, ISOCARB 16, in the composition of messenger RNA vaccines such as those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.
Like Renergen, Sasol also offers phase change material technologies for vaccine storage solutions at very low temperatures. The crisis has prompted the company to step up its marketing for this product, which was already in its catalog before the pandemic.
