Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says contrary to the impression that the poor power situation in the country was caused by inadequate gas supply, the real problem was inadequate transmission capacity.
It says that there is enough gas to generate 8,000 megawatts (8GW) of electricity but the transmission grid cannot support such volume of power without complications.
Maikanti Baru, group managing director of NNPC, disclosed this at the 53rd International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) in Abuja, yesterday.
Delivering a paper entitled, “Challenges and Prospects for the Diversification of the Upstream, Downstream and Frontier Basin Exploration in the Oil and Gas Sector,” Baru said NNPC had identified opportunities in the power sector and was ready to take advantage of them to transform from being a gas supplier to the power sector, into a major player, in the sector.
He said the ongoing reform was geared towards transforming it from an oil and gas company into an integrated energy outfit with interest in power generation and transmission.
According to statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, group general manager, corporate affairs, Baru stated that the Corporation was already working on a project to generate 4,000GW) of electricity while also exploring the possibility of investing in the transmission segment of the power sector.
The Corporation’s decision to diversify into the power sector, he explained was hinged on the need to bridge the huge energy gap in the Nigerian market.
Baru also defended the Federal Government’s plan to transform illegal refineries in the Niger Delta into legal entities for proper integration of the youth in the region.
He argued that getting the youth to form consortia to set up 1,000 barrels per day modular refineries would get them off criminality and create jobs.
In the upstream, he said his goal was to accelerate frontier exploration and grow crude oil reserve to 40 billion barrels from the current 37 billion.
He also challenged the geoscientists on the need to deploy more sophisticated technology and drill deeper than the current 13,000 to 15,000 feet in the Niger Delta to produce more oil.
“We have to look deeper with intensive 3D and 4D seismic surveys over the so-called matured Niger Delta. The older, the better,” he said.
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