Vice-President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria is actively seeking $25 billion investment to supply gas to Europe via the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project.
Speaking on Monday at the presidential villa during a meeting with a Vitol Group delegation, an independent commodity trader, Shettima said the project is an expensive venture requiring about the aforementioned amount.
He said the country needs Vitol’s technical expertise to successfully finalise the project.
“We need you more for your technical expertise than for your money. Gas supply stability counts, that is why we are exploring the option of an undersea gas pipeline,” the vice-president said.
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Shettima said “it will be a completely transparent management structure”, urging Vitol to “come on board with this project”.
He described Nigeria’s gas sector as a beacon of stability and transparency amid global uncertainty.
“I will urge you to key into our nation’s energy transition programme. I want you to utilise your dominance in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Associated Petroleum Gas (APG) sub-sectors,” he said.
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The vice-president said the world is changing and “ours is actually a gas and not an oil economy”.
“We have the eighth-largest gas reserve in the world. We really want to harness the potential in the gas sector fundamentally because of the stability and transparency in that arena,” he said.
“The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) has been largely insulated from government interference.
“What we are getting from the NLNG is so predictable. This is why we are seriously exploring the option of taking our gas to Europe.”
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The vice-president said President Bola Tinubu’s bold economic reforms have positioned Nigeria as a leading destination for investment, particularly in the energy sector.
Shettima said Nigeria’s leadership transformation under Tinubu presents a unique and unparalleled opportunity for international investors.
“Most importantly is the leadership. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu grew up in that ecosystem — energy and finance,” he said.
“In the past 25 years, we have not had a leader who has the courage to take far-reaching decisions as he has taken — the removal of fuel subsidy, the unification of the multiple exchange rates, and the tax reforms.”
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Shettima appealed to global investors, saying Tinubu is putting Nigeria on a new trajectory.
“This is where the action is, invest in Nigeria,” he said.
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‘VITOL GROUP HAS LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO NIGERIA’
On his part, Jeffrey Dellapina, chief financial officer of Vitol Group, said the company has a long-term commitment to Nigeria.
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“This has been an incredibly close and important country for Vitol for a very long time. We have participated in a lot of things from the downstream, financing, trading and government support when needed,” he said.
“We do want to maintain an understanding that Vitol is committed, and we are always available to deploy capital when needed.
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“We want to stay in this country and evolve with you.”
Also speaking, Murtala Baloni, Vitol Group’s head of public affairs, said the company is benefiting from a strong and positive business relationship with Nigerian companies and the government.
“We support the business of the government in ways that we can in the deployment of capital,” he said.
Baloni said the company was one of the major funders of Project Gazelle, a crude oil-backed forward-sale finance facility by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, “where we put in $300 million during the COVID-19 period”.
