By Thompson ABISOLA
Removal of obstacles through legal framework is key to the realisation of the projected investment in the Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) said.
Mr Dada Thomas, the NGA President, said this at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos.
Thomas urged the Federal Government to facilitate the passage of Petroleum Industry Governance and Fiscal Bills for the realisation of this goal.
“The “natural gas revolution” is the most significant energy thing in decades of the region development.
“The implications of this revolution, with a particular focus on what it means for West Africa region is important for our industry and the region economy to grasp,” he said.
Outlining its benefits, the NGA president said: “It is a clean-burning ally to renewables like wind and solar.”
He said that generating electricity from gas also required relatively low capital investment and would be highly flexible.
“It can be converted to liquid fuels, transported easily and used to make other products.
“For a sector with billions worth of investment opportunities, we are positive of growth in the economy and the potential for growth in such areas as LNG Plants, NGL Plants, Gas Transmission Pipelines, Gas Processing facilities.
“Gas based manufacturing industries, pipe milling and fabrication yards and financial services that exist in the gas sector,” he said.
Thomas said that turning natural gas into a profit-making venture required huge investments in infrastructure that would address the five component areas of gas availability, gas affordability, deliverability, funding, and the legal and regulatory framework.
“Government and operators alike recognise that the first step is to provide a legal and regulatory framework that will enable the removal of all the other obstacles.
“As we all know, the passed gas policy proposes reforms so profound that almost every new investment is on hold awaiting the resolution of the questions raised by this legislation,” he said.
The president announced that the 2018 NGA bi-annual gas conference had been scheduled to hold on Oct. 14 and Oct. 16 in Abuja.
He said the theme of the conference is “Shift to Gas Economy: Pace and Scale of Innovation in the West African Sub-region”.
Thomas said the forum would provide a veritable platform to gauge the current status and the way forward.
“With this in mind, we at NGA have continued to ask ourselves the questions on the current state of the natural gas industry in Nigeria in addition to evaluating the potential for its future development across the West African region.
“Even with obvious challenges, companies are making significant strategic investments in gas pipelines and production to power Independent Power Plants (IPPs) and industrial customers and it is estimated that about 1,000 MW of IPP capacity is presently idle due to a lack of gas delivery.
“As the market moves towards the concept of “willing buyer, willing seller” and the government continues to make the investment environment more attractive, the country has massive prospects.
“We believe, Nigeria’s gas reserves could potentially be as high as 600Tcf (compared to the current proven level of 192Tcf) if deliberate steps are taken to explore for gas as opposed to coincidental discovery during oil exploration,” he said.
