Industry operators and experts in the oil and gas sector have said that the timely implementation of the Nigerian Gas Master plan is pivotal to achieve economic boom and environmental sanity.
They said that the Nigerian economy can truely be an investor’s haven if the challenges around gas are holistically addressed
The operators observed that as a country, oil and gas contribute an estimated 80 percent of government revenues as figures show that Nigeria produces an estimated 7 billion scf per day and account for an estimated 182 trillion scf of gas reserve.
The economy they said is currently largely dependent on thermal power plants which are fuelled by gas adding that there is the urgent need to address issues around sustainability of gas investments and gas availability.
Eju Magose Abraham, an energy researcher in his presentation at the just concluded Nigeria international petroleum summit in Abuja opines that Nigeria’s monolithic economy poses huge challenges now and in the future, adding that there is need to urgently diversify the Nigerian economy to overcome the challenges of “monolithic economy”.
According to him, “Opportunities abound in the harnessing and utilisation of the abundant gas reserve of Nigeria as one of the vehicles for economic diversification”.
Abraham in this paper presentation title an over view of the oil and gas industry observes that beside gas, there are other areas of diversification opportunities in Nigeria such as solid minerals, agriculture, among others.
The Federal Government projection indicates that Nigerian gas MasterPlan was is aimed at addressing among other things the delivery of gas-to-power targeted at ensuring about threefold increase in generation capacity.
According to the Nigeria gas master plan, it is projected that a reasonable level of gas-based industrialisation would be achieve thereby positioning Nigeria as the undisputed regional hub for industries such as fertilizer, petrochemicals and methanol which require Natural Gas as feedstock; and of course to ensure we deepen our export gas market making it more robust and profitable.
Bolaji Ogundare, chief executive officer, Newcross Petroleum Limited in an interview with BusinessDay said managers of the economy need to urgently address the lapses in gas infrastructure, funding and debilitating effect of vandalism in the energy sector and resolve hiccups that gas shortage poses as this will encourage investment to grow the economy.
Ogundare observe that the major hindrance in the current gas framework is at the upstream end of the market. There needs to be an overhaul of the acreage system to replace some of the current upstream operators with gas companies that have the expertise, financial ability and motivation to properly develop gas capacity in Nigeria.
Dada Thomas, president of Nigerian Gas Association observes that if the issues around credible and enforceable gas contracts coupled with a price regime are not tackled, willing local investors will continue to shy away from putting their money into production of gas for local use.
According to him, “Gas projects will become more profitable if indigenous companies are given access, stressing that it will be easier for local companies with proven track records to attract investors to execute projects that can unlock gas for Nigeria.
It is believed that vast opportunities await Nigeria in the Gas sector more so as Nigeria is more of a Gas than oil nation going by the quantity of the proven gas reserves in the country.
KELECHI EWUZIE
