TheCable

Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for petroleum, says the federal government is currently working to grow the country’s gas reserve from 206 trillion cubic feet to 600 TCF.

Sylva said this on Wednesday at the 23rd World Petroleum Congress in Houston, Texas, U.S., at a session themed ‘Regional Development and Opportunities in Africa’.

According to him, the proposed growth to 600 tcf reserve will ensure that the country is better positioned to utilise its ample gas resources.

“We have a lot of gas in Nigeria. We currently have 206 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves,” he said.

“This number is already discovered in gas reserves, and the 206 trillion cubic feet reserve were discovered while looking for oil; so it was accidentally discovered.

“We were actually going to look for crude oil, and we found gas, and in that process of the accidental discovery of gas, we have found about 206 tcf.

“So, the belief is that if we really aim to look for gas dedicatedly, we will find up to 600 trillion cubic feet of gas.”

The minister said despite energy transition, the energy mix would still consist of oil as fossil fuel cannot be abandoned overnight.

“The future of oil and gas industry in Nigeria is still very bright when we talk about energy transition, we are not expecting that oil will be discarded the next day,” he said.

“We are saying that over the years, oil will account for less and less percentage in the global energy mix.

“It means that oil is still going to be relevant, but it will not be as relevant as it is today, but it is not going to happen just now.

“It’s going to happen years to come, so there is still a lot of opportunities in growing the oil industry.

“That’s why we are here to collaborate with the rest of the global community to develop oil industry.

“We’ve never discountenanced that the world is serious about the energy transition.”

He added that the net-zero target by Nigeria during the COP-26 conference required continued financial support.

“We have declared gas as our transition fuel, our pathway to net-zero carbon emissions,” Sylva added.

“This presents investment opportunities given the oil and gas reserves which can be commercialised.”

Sylva said that discussion had begun with AfreximBank to create an energy bank that will finance fossil fuel projects in Nigeria and Africa at large.

He also said the PIA provided sufficient incentives to gas producers to commit to energy transition.

According to the minister, in the meantime, Nigeria was faced with issues relating to energy poverty, hence the need to provide energy security for its citizens.

“We are hoping that by 2060, we would have gotten to the point where we would have moved to the level where the global community is moving to,” he said.

“Nigeria never denied energy transition, but there are challenges for us.

“We want the global community to understand our position that we are not exactly where they are today.

“Forty-three percent of Nigerians are unconnected to off-grid electricity.

“So, we have a challenge, and we have to commit to energy security as well, and also the cost on us from the global community to ensure energy security for our people. So, for us, it is a balancing act.

“We need to commit to energy security for citizens. It is a balancing act, we need to achieve energy security for Nigerians and also be on course on net zero.”