Oil & Energy

Gov Sule Makes Case For Nation’s Gas Reserves

Published

4 years ago

October 18, 2021

Nasarawa state Governor Abdullahi Sule said last Thursday that the country’s major challenges and problems could be resolved with its gas reserves.
Sule said this in Abuja at the 6th Triennial Branch Delegates Conference/Award of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), under the theme: “Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) – Prospects for the Nigerian oil and gas industry”.
The governor said Nigeria was a gas country with oil, going by the volume of her gas reserves.
“When I was working for an oil and gas company in the past, we used to categorise Nigeria as among the various nations of oil and gas, we used to see Nigeria as a gas country with oil.
“With over 200 trillion standard cubic feet of gas that we have, Nigeria is indeed a gas country. And for those who understand the industry, if we develop the gas alone, even without the 40 million barrels of oil we have, the gas will be enough to sustain Nigeria.
“All the problems about power, fertiliser, the challenges we have in agriculture will be resolved easily with the gas reserve that we have.
“I want PENGASSAN to promote gas because a lot of countries survived with gas; it’s gas that made Qatar what it is today, not oil.
“So, this is the opportunity we have that we must develop, if we have to survive as a nation,” Sule said.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Sarki Auwalu, (DPR), who was the chief host of the conference, said the focus on the PIA was to highlight the importance of the law to the oil and gas sector.
Auwalu also said that PIA would overhaul the oil and gas industry and eventually set the country on the path of greatness.
“The theme of this conference is a further testament to the critical role played by the constructive unionism in national development, the petroleum industry in particular.
“You will agree with me that President Muhammadu Buhari achieved a monumental feat in advancing the Nigeria oil and gas industry.
“This was enabled through the signing of the PIB into an Act and this took us 20 years to achieve this legacy; president Buhari deserves an applause.
“In spite of the fact that we are going to net-zero, I believe that the PIA has a focus on the future and we will see how that future will be guaranteed with respect to environmental consciousness.
“I believe that the PIA will guarantee the future of our children and grand children,” Auwalu said.
He called for closer collaboration between PENGASSAN and the DPR, especially as it concerned the implementation of the PIA, for the oil and gas industry to continue to thrive.
President of PENGASSAN, Mr Festus Osifo regretted that the PIB was signed into law by President Buhari with some errors, but noted that it could be subjected to amendments for some of the errors to be removed.
“The only snag we have today is that we channel our energy into production of crude oil reserve; if we continue the way we are today, that is 2 million barrels per day and about 37 million barrels reserve, it will take us years to move forward.
“We should be thinking of how to fast track to ensure that the 2 million production is moved to 3 or 4 million barrels.
“If we don’t do that quickly, we are going to be caught in the trap of energy transition or fall into the web of what happened to our coal. Today, coal is trapped in the ground and nobody is interested”, he said.

Oil & Energy

No Subsidy In Oil, Gas Sector — NMDPRA

Published

2 weeks ago

September 8, 2025

The Tide

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has said there are no subsidies in the oil and gas sector as Nigeria operates a completely deregulated market.

The Director, Public Affairs Department, NMDPRA, George Ene-Italy, made this known in an interview with newsmen, in Abuja, at the Weekend.

Reacting to the recent reports that the Federal Government has removed subsidies or increased the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CBG), Ene-Italy said, “What we have is a baseline price for our gas resources, including CNG as dictated by the Petroleum Industry Act”.

He insisted that as long as the prevailing CNG market price conforms to the baseline, then the pricing is legitimate.

Furthermore, the Presidential – Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGI) had said that no directive or policy had been issued by the Federal Government to alter CNG pump prices.

The P-CNGI boss, Michael Oluwagbemi, emphasised that the recent pump price adjustments announced by certain operators were purely private-sector decisions and not the outcome of any government directive or policy.

For absolute clarity, it said that while pricing matters fell under the purview of the appropriate regulatory agencies, no directive or policy had been issued by the Federal Government to alter CNG pump prices.

The P-CNGI said its mandate, as directed by President Bola Tinubu, was to catalyse the development of the CNG mobility market and ensure the adoption of a cheaper, cleaner, and more sustainable alternative fuel and diesel nationwide.

Oil & Energy

‘Nigeria’s GDP’ll Hit $357bn, If Power Supply Gets To 8,000MW’

Published

2 weeks ago

September 8, 2025

The Tide

The Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), Bismarck Rewane, has said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could rise to $357b if electricity supply would increase from the present 4.500MW to 8,000MW.

Rewane also noted that Nigeria has spent not less than $30 billion in the power sector in 26 years only to increase the country’s power generation by mere 500MW, from 4,500 MW in 1999 to 5,000MW in 2025 though the sector has installed capacity to generate 13,000 MW.

In his presentation at the Lagos Business School (LBS) Executive Breakfast Session, titled “Nigeria Bailout or Lights Out: The Power Sector in a Free Fall”, Rewane insisted that the way out for the power sector that has N4.3 trillion indebtedness to banks would be either a bailout or lights out for Nigeria with its attendant consequences.

He said, “According to the World Bank, a 1.0 per cent increase in electricity consumption is associated with a 0.5 to 0.6 per cent rise in GDP.

“If power supply rises to 8000MW, from current 4500MW, the bailout shifts money from government into investment, raising consumption and productivity. And, due to multiplier effects, GDP could rise to $357 billion.”

The FDC’s Chief Executive said “in the last 30 years, Nigeria has invested not less than $30 billon to solve an intractable power supply problem.

“The initiatives, which started in 1999 when the power generated from the grid was as low as 4,500MW, have proved to be a failure at best.

“Twenty-six years later, and after five presidential administrations, the country is still generating 5,000MW. Nigeria is ranked as being in the lowest percentile of electricity per capita in the world.

“The way out is a bailout, or it is lights out for Nigeria”, he warned.

He traced the origin of the huge debts of the power sector to its privatisation under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, when many of the investors thought they had hit a jackpot, only to find out to their consternation that they had bought a poisoned chalice.

Rewane, who defined a bailout as “injection of money into a business or institution that would otherwise face an imminent collapse”, noted that the bailout may be injected as loans, subsidies, guarantees or equity for the purpose of stabilising markets, protect jobs and restore confidence.

He said, “The President has promised to consider a financial bailout for the Gencos and Discos. With a total indebtedness of N4.3 trillion to the banking system, the debt has shackled growth in the sector.”

Rewane warned that without implementing the bailouts for the power sector, the GENCOs and DISCOs would shut down at the risk of nationwide blackout.

Rewane, however, noted that implementing a bailout for the power sector could have a positive effect on the country’s economy if Nigeria’s actual power generation could rise from today’s 4,500 MW to around 8,000 and 10,000 MW.

The immediate gains, according to him, would include improved power generation and distribution capacity, more reliable electricity supply to homes and businesses as well as cost reflective tariffs.

Oil & Energy

NEITI Blames Oil, Gas Sector Theft On Mass Layoff

Published

2 weeks ago

September 8, 2025

The Tide

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has blamed the increasing crude oil theft across the nation on the persistent layoff of skilled workers in the oil and gas sector.

The Executive Secretary, NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, stated this during an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

Orji said from investigations, many of the retrenched workers, who possess rare technical skills in pipeline management and welding, often turn to illicit networks that steal crude from pipelines and offshore facilities.

In his words, “You can’t steal oil without skill. The pipelines are sometimes deep underwater. Nigerians trained in welding and pipeline management get laid off, and when they are jobless, they become available to those who want to steal crude”.

He explained that oil theft requires extraordinary expertise and is not the work of “ordinary people in the creeks”, stressing that most of those involved were once trained by the same industry they now undermine.

According to him, many retrenched workers have formed consortia and offer their services to oil thieves, further complicating efforts to secure production facilities.

“This is why we told the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to take this seriously. The laying off of skilled labour in oil and gas must stop”, he added.

While noting that oil theft has reduced in recent times due to tighter security coordination, Orji warned, however, that the failure to address its root causes, including unemployment among technically trained oil workers would continue to expose the country to losses.

According to him, between 2021 and 2023, Nigeria lost 687.65 million barrels of crude to theft, according to NEITI’s latest report. Orji said though theft dropped by 73 per cent in 2023, with 7.6 million barrels stolen compared to 36.6 million barrels in 2022, the figure still translates to billions of dollars in lost revenues.

Orji emphasised that beyond revenue, crude oil theft also undermines national security, as proceeds are used to finance terrorism and money laundering.

“It’s more expensive to keep losing crude than to build the kind of monitoring infrastructure Saudi Arabia has. Nigeria has what it takes to do the same”, he stated.