The Federal Government has said that the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), will enable Nigeria to derive maximum value from its natural gas resource.
President Muhammadu Buhari said this yesterday at the 6th Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Summit in Doha, Qatar.
Buhari, represented by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, noted that the PIA provides the required governance, regulatory and fiscal framework needed to support the industry’s growth.
In a statement from the Minister’s media aide, Horatius Egua, the President said Nigeria; a gas province with some oil is committed to sustainable growth of natural gas exploitation and utilisation, both for domestic use and export via liquefied natural gas (LNG), and pipeline gas to sub-regional African countries.
Accordingly, he said Nigeria is embarking on different initiatives, projects, and policies to enhance the performance of the oil and gas sector, including the National Gas Expansion Program (NGEP).
He was quoted: “NGEP is designed to provide framework and policy support to extend gas supply and utilisation in power generation, gas-based industries and in emerging niche gas sectors, such as gas in transportation, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for cooking and remote virtual gas supply using trucks to convey LNG and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to industries.”
The other initiatives are the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano gas pipeline to support five billion standard cubic feet per day of domestic gas utilisation in the near term and five-Gigawatt power generation.
“The expanding of the current LNG production capacity to about 30 million tons per annum at Bonny with the on-going N-LNG Train seven project and the declaration of 2021-2030 as the Decade of Gas towards a gas-powered economy.
“This would not only lower Nigeria’s Green-house Gas (GHG) emissions but also reduce the country’s import bills.”
We, therefore, need to continue to assess the gas and energy market dynamics both in the short, medium, and long-term time frames with the aim of leveraging market opportunities and collectively address the challenges.
Sustainable fuel
The President noted that with natural gas projected to be the leading fossil fuel in the energy transition, the GECF, given its member countries’ vast experiences, is well-positioned to provide a credible platform to promote natural gas as a sustainable fuel for an effective energy transition.
“We, therefore, need to continue to assess the gas and energy market dynamics both in the short, medium, and long-term time frames with the aim of leveraging market opportunities and collectively address the challenges,” he added.
To achieve the set objectives, he stressed the need to work together as policy makers, investors, decision makers, researchers and technology developers to make modern energy sources such as natural gas available and affordable to all.
While restating Nigeria’s commitment to the Conference of Parties (COP26) Glasgow declaration towards zero carbon emissions, Buhari however underscored the importance of natural gas for effective energy transition towards a low carbon future.
He equally emphasised the need for natural gas as a fuel for socio-economic development, in view of its abundance, flexibility, and versatility as the cleanest fossil fuel.
