By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – Nigeria has said it will triple its natural gas production capacity by 2020 to help meet the nation’s power and industrial development needs, a Bloomberg report quoted Diezani Alison-Madueke, Petroleum Minister.
According to the report, Alison-Madueke disclosed that Nigeria wants to increase gas capacity to 11 billion cubic feet per day, from the current 4 billion cubic feet.
“We are moving very aggressively into gas for industrialisation purposes, at the same time we have to work very, very critically on our gas-to-power needs,” she said.
The report affirmed that Nigeria generates less electricity than is needed by its population of about 170 million, and has irregular power supply the government says are a bottleneck for economic growth. ‘’A shortage of gas for delivery to power plants is one reason why generation is below capacity,’’ the report said.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Nigeria LNG Ltd. are among companies with interests in gas production in Nigeria Bloomberg reported.
Alison-Madueke further affirmed that gas infrastructure is incredibly capital intensive, ‘’all intending investors are fully aware of the scope of funding that will be required, we are seeing from both the East and the West interest in our gas investments,’’ she said.
However, she didn’t identify any countries or companies.
The petroleum minister noted that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is central to plans to develop Nigeria’s hydrocarbons industry. ‘’The PIB aims to increase the country’s share of profit from oil pumped off its shores,’’ Nigeria oil minister afirmed.
The report said the bill was sent to the Nigeria’s National Assembly five (5) years ago, and would also pave the way for the privatisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“Whilst it is a most critical bill in terms of transformation, accountability in the sector, at this point in time all we can do is work as closely as possible with our counterparts in the National Assembly, the legislators, to try to ensure we support the bill,” Alison-Madueke said.
