Conscious efforts are currently being made by the leadership of the state-owned oil company in Nigeria to increase the supply of
gas by a considerable percentage.
The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation and its partners have evolved a scheme to grow gas supply for domestic consumption by 285 per cent.
The NNPC said this in a statement signed by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ughamadu quoted the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, as having said this while addressing partners
at a 7 Critical Gas Development Projects stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja.
Baru said the scheme was in line with the Federal Government mandate to stimulate the nation’s economic growth.
The gas growth, further he said, was expected to rise from three billion standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) to five billion scf/d
by 2020.
Baru said, “The Federal Government has directed the corporation to aggressively
pursue gas development to jump start the nation’s economic growth.
“The strategic focus for achieving this mandate include growing capacity to supply enough gas to generate 15 Gigawatts of
electricity to the power sector by 2020.
“Stimulating gas-based industrialisation by positioning Nigeria as the African regional
hub for gas-based industries such as Fertilizer, Petrochemicals.
“Methanol and developing gas for export by selectively expanding export footprint in high value and strategic foreign markets.’’
Baru further said appropriate funding for the seven critical gas projects would be a priority and a key success factor to be adopted in facilitating the execution of
these vital projects.
According to him, there will be alternative funding through third-party financing options. He urged the partners to work together to ensure that the critical gas
projects were executed expeditiously for the benefit of the country.
The NNPC boss also assured that top management of the corporation was available to work with all stakeholders to
ensure timely delivery of the projects.
Responding on behalf of the partners, the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mr Osagie
Okunbor, commended Baru for seeking optimal production and delivery of gas to power industry and for export.
“With proper alignment of the key parties, the projects would be delivered as scheduled,’’ Okunbor said.
The seven oil and gas companies earmarked for the project are Assa North-Ohaji South Field Development, Oil Mining Lease 24 and OML 18 Joint Development.
Others are SPDC Joint Venture/Nigeria Agip
Oil Company Joint Venture Unitized Gas fields, Chevron Nigeria Limited’s OML 49
Makaraba Cluster Development SPDC JV Gas Supply to Brass Fertilizer Company, among
others.
They are meant to fast-track the execution of the project to enable NNPC to meet the 285 percent domestic gas supply growth
projection.
