Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has lamented the low earnings of the country from its gas production, which he said was far below that of Egypt, despite having more gas reserves.
Speaking at the 6th Value Chain Annual Lecture and Awards in Abuja on Thursday, Shettima said Nigeria had over 200 trillion cubic feet of untapped gas resources and ranked 9th in the world in terms of proven resources.
Shetiima, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Energy and Power Infrastructure, Office of the Vice President, stressed the need to exploit the nation’s gas potential, which he said was vital for the power sector, as gas accounted for 80 per cent of the current power generation and was expected to be the primary source of power by 2030.
“Today, Nigeria earns around $5 billion from gas production, a figure that is 40 per cent less than in Egypt, which has around 30 per cent of Nigeria’s reserves,” said Mr Wanka.
“Our production-to-reserve ratio is less than a third of Egypt’s, less than a quarter of Algeria’s and around 10 per cent of Malaysia’s.
“In the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war, the EU and many other nations were shopping for the Liquified Natural Gas at the same time that Nigeria’s largest LNG assets were operating significantly below capacity because gas supply was inadequate.”
According to the Vice President, the nation could face a shortfall of up to 10 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2030, in line with current projections.
The Vice President emphasized the timeliness of the event’s focus on midstream gas infrastructure, highlighting its critical importance in transport infrastructure, processing facilities, and other related aspects.
He pointed out, “One only needs to look at the number of power plants and factories that have built up around the Escravos-Lagos-Pipeline System and its various spurs. Today, I am glad to learn that the AKK pipeline is nearing completion.
