Nigeria Has 187trn Cubic Feet Of Gas -Minister

The Federal Government, says Nigeria is endowed with about 187 trillion cubic feet, of proven natural gas reserves just as another estimated 600, TCF, is yet to be discovered.

Speaking at the annual technical conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC) in Lagos, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke said: “Our oil Production is over 2 million barrels per day and we currently produced about 8 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.” The minister who was represented by the executive secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Dr Earnest Nwapa announced that Nigeria has commenced gas distribution to neighbouring West African Countries through the West African Gas Pipeline Scheme, which runs from Lagos to Takoradi.

According to her, the Nigerian gas sector is currently begging for a 20 billion dollars annual investment from the government if it must be optimally harnessed, adding that the renewed focus on the domestic gas sector will drive unprecedented growth in gas utilisation from 1 billion cubic feet per day to 5 billion cubic feet per day by 2015.

She noted that this growth rate is forecast to be world’s most aggressive growth in gas sector by stimulating an unparalleled level of investment activity in the country, pointing that the Nigerian Content Act is a key step taken by government in recent years to ensure that oil and gas activities resulted in economic development.

The petroleum minister further said that the implementation of the Act has provided immense inspiration and confidence to adopt the pilot schemes, which are already making positive and measurable impacts in the sector, pointing that the Act is not intended to indigenise the industry or nationalise investors’ assets in the Nigerian economy.

Mrs. Allison-Madueke stated that the Act sets out provisions that guarantee investment made with the country, to ensure the right of every investor is protected under the laws, while noting that government has taken another major step to unlock the enormous potential of the domestic gas sector to attract investments.

We have implemented the most aggressive reform of the commercial framework for gas in Nigeria to address the observed inadequacies in the commercial terms that stunted investment, “she stressed, hinting that as a government, our desire is to ensure that substantial proportion of this investment is retained in Nigeria as unique provision in the Nigeria Content Development Act,”

She told the gathering that the gas sector and the oil industry currently need to spend about 20 billion dollars annually, even as upstream gas production for the domestic gas market alone has been receiving a dedicated spend of between 1.5 to 1 billion dollars annually from the Federal Government.

The minister said: “ The major operators have not helped matters by reliance on the importation of goods and services from abroad without making the provisions to develop sustainable capabilities within Nigeria that will support life cycle operations in the country. Instead, more emphasis have been placed on speedy achievement of first oil, generation of revenue without paying attention to actions that add value to the economy.”

According to her, for some time, it has been a major concern that after many decades, contractors and multinationals that have done business worth several hundred millions of dollars in Nigeria do not have appreciable foot-print in Nigeria. Instead, the trend has been to look to foreign countries for operations in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea region.