The Director New Energy at Seplat Energy, Mr. Effiong Okon, has made a strong case on the need for the Federal Government to prioritize gas investments in the current drive towards carbon-free fuel energy in the country.
Making a case for gas development in the country, the industry expert whilst delivering Keynote during the Gas Stakeholders Conversation panel session at the 2024 Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) held in Abuja, said gas development remained a clear solution to Nigeria’s immediate problems as well as a longer-term transition fuel.
He said: “Increasing the supply of reliable, affordable and sustainable energy is Nigeria’s greatest challenge; but clearly gas is the logical transition fuel we need to realise this.”
Okon linked the importance of gas development to power, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) production, fertilizer production, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production, and building materials production, among others.
He explained: “Today we have acute housing and infrastructure shortage, but no commercially viable substitute for production of building materials e.g. cement, glass, steel; about 90,000 deaths per year due to biomass cooking; and rising population presents urgent need to improve agricultural production. We can fund all of the above with gas.
“We can also reduce reliance on petrol, increase and decarbonise domestic transport fuel if we leverage on gas. Of course, these would in turn strengthen our focus on sustainability”, the industry expert added.
Okon stressed that the Nigerian energy industry must focus on end-to-end solutions to unlock the full value of Nigeria’s gas, noting that exploration, production, gas processing and delivery of gas to last mile remain germane to maximising the dividends of the resource.
For a sustainable gas development programme in Nigeria, he harped on the need for bankability and access to low-cost capital; use of technology, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart metering to reduce Aggregate Technical Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses; and technology-enabled revenue delivery opportunities to aid fund collection.
Date from the IEA Global Energy Outlook 2022 report, indicated natural gas production in Africa was expected to grow by 15 per cent between 2020 and 2030, driven mainly by new projects in Egypt, Nigeria and Mozambique