March 2, 2022

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says Nigeria’s proven natural gas reserve has risen to 209.5 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) as at Jan. 1, 2022.

Mr. Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive, NMDPRA, said this on Wednesday at the 2022 Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja.

The new figure represents a major increase of 2.97 TCF in proven natural gas reserves representing 1.42 percentage increase from the 206.53 TCF recorded on Jan. 1, 2021.

Ahmed, represented by Mr. Ogbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, said the Nigerian economy had been projected to experience a growth of 2.1 to 2.5 per cent through 2022.

He said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would expand between 2.9 to 3.5 per cent as projected by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, adding that this progress would be driven by energy.

Ahmed said: “Thankfully, Nigeria is endowed with enormous petroleum resources currently put at 37 billion Barrels of Crude oil reserves and 209.5 TCF of Natural Gas reserves as at January 2022.

“These resource size puts Nigeria at an enviable position within the comity of global hydrocarbon producers.

“Even in this era of global energy transition the oil and gas sector still remains pivotal to the Nigerian economy since it provides the needed cash flow for the functioning of other sectors of the economy but for how long?”

According to him, with the global push for energy transition, Nigeria is racing against time to derive maximum value from its hydrocarbon resource and secure its energy future.

He said there was need to vigorously contemplate Nigeria’s energy strategies, which was a key tool for economic liberation and national development taking into advisement the shift in demand and clamour for cleaner fuels.

Ahmed said: “It is imperative that going forward all stakeholders must deliberately adopt strategies that embolden and underpin these three core principles.

“Adoption of low carbon technologies across all operations in the oil and gas value chain, deepening and penetration of natural gas utilisation domestically to increase energy sufficiency and reduce energy poverty and invest conscientiously in cleaner fuels and renewables.”

He said the authority was committed to creating an enabling environment for investments in the midstream and downstream space by encouraging industry participants through its regulatory service instruments. (NAN)