BY Bunmi Aduloju
The federal government says it will invest and focus on natural gas exploration to achieve accelerated growth in the industry.
President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said this on Tuesday at the 6th Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in Doha, Qatar.
Horatius Egua, the senior adviser to the minister on media and communications, released a statement to that effect.
He said the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was an indication of the government’s commitment to deepening natural gas utilisation by providing required governance, regulatory and fiscal framework.
He said Nigeria was committed to the sustainable growth of natural gas exploitation and utilisation, both for domestic use and export — via LNG and pipeline gas to sub-regional African countries.
According to Buhari, various initiatives have been set up to enhance the performance of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“NGEP is designed to provide framework and policy support to extend the gas supply and utilisation in power generation, gas-based industries and in emerging niche gas sectors,” NAN quoted Buhari as saying.
“Such are 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, he said, are the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano gas pipeline, which aims to support five billion cubic feet per day of domestic gas utilisation and five-gigawatt power generation in the near term.
“The expanding of the current LNG production capacity to about 30 million tons per annum at Bonny with the ongoing N-LNG Train seven project and the declaration of 2021-2030 as the Decade of Gas towards a gas-powered economy,” he said.
“This would not only lower Nigeria’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions but also reduce the country’s import bills.”
Buhari noted that with natural gas projected to be the leading fossil fuel in the energy transition, the GECF, given its member countries’ vast experience, was well-positioned to provide a credible platform for promoting 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 frame to take market opportunities and collectively address the challenges,” he said.
To achieve these objectives, he stressed the need to work together to make modern energy sources such as natural gas available and affordable to all.
Buhari restated Nigeria’s commitment to the Conference of Parties (COP26) Glasgow declaration towards zero carbon emissions.
He emphasised the importance of natural gas for an effective energy transition towards a low carbon future.
He also highlighted the need for natural gas as a fuel for socio-economic development, taking into consideration its qualifications such as abundant, flexible, cleanest fossil fuel and its versatility.
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