Oluwasina Phillip
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said that the Nigerian oil and gas industry will require at least $40bn (N16.4trn) in direct investments in basic infrastructure to achieve the federal government’s much talked-about “Decade of Gas.”
NNPC said that it was targeting between 7.4 billion cubic feet to 10 billion cubit feet of gas in the next couple of years, compared to its current 1.6 bcf supply capacity.
Speaking at a virtual forum organised by the Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG), tagged “The Decade of Gas: Unlocking Opportunities in the Domestic Gas Market,” the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, NNPC, Mr Yusuf Usman, stated that a major constraint in achieving local content through the programme is the difficult conditions placed by foreign lenders.
However, he explained that the corporation expects to grow about 10 gas-based industries as it works towards the 10-year target.
He added that the figure on the quantum of funds needed is based on the submissions NNPC has received from potential investors.
In addition, he stated that about 39 thermal power plants were being targeted as opposed to the current 33.
According to him, by the end of this year, the NNPC is projecting an added gas sales of about 600 mmscfd, compared to its current 1.6 bcf to hit 2.2 bcf by the end of 2021.
He said: “In terms of benefits, we will generate 45,000 megawatts of power in terms of gas use, creating massive employment and import substitution.
“There are changes we need to look at to actualise the decade of gas. We see the huge amount of investment, both Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) that will come into the country upward of $40 billion or much more than that in order to achieve all the aggressive plans that that are outlined in the decade of gas.
This investment will come in the upstream, midstream and downstream, but there are challenges as well because there have been a lot of announcements around funding for fossil fuels and these are some of the things we have to look at as we go forward and we need to figure out the announcement vis-a-vis the foreign estimate that we expect.”
He added that the corporation has a supply plan to deliver up to 4.5 bcf of gas into the market, while going forward, the country expects 7.4 bcf of gas.