FG to open 6 more filling stations where fuel sells for N200, improve gas sector

The minister of state petroleum resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, has listed some of the actions that can help bolster Nigeria's gas sector.

He listed the adoption of gas technology and innovation, shaping effective policy frameworks, unlocking financing avenues, nurturing capacity building, and cultivating entrepreneurship as measures that would improve the future of Nigeria’s Africa’s energy landscape.

Ekpo was represented by the ministry's Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Nicholas Agbo, at the opening of the 2024 Africa Gas Innovation Summit, AGIS, in Abuja.

He noted that the country's journey should be guided by a shared vision of progress, inclusivity, and sustainability.

Mele Kyari, the Group CEO of NNPC Limited, stated that the company has increased its investment in the gas sector in the last few years to guarantee better supply and utilisation.

Kyari, accompanied by Olalekan Ogunleye, the Executive Vice President of Gas, Power, and New Energies, indicated that the company has made significant investments in gas pipeline projects and floating LNG.

Acknowledging the efforts of the government in improving gas supply, he also disclosed plans to install more CNG plants across the country before year end.

He said, “Indeed, we are currently participating in three mini LNG projects slated for groundbreaking this August. NNPC is also currently leading the federal government’s auto-gas initiative.

“Aside from the recent commissioning of the 5.2mscf per-day Ilasamaja mother-station CNG plant, the GCEO of NNPC recently announced plans to take FID (final investment decision) within this year and roll out six additional CNG mother-station plants with similar capacity”, he added.

The National Office for Hydrocarbons and Mines, Morocco's Director General, Amina Benkhadra, also spoke at the event.

He revealed that there are currently over $245 billion in investment prospects for the development of gas infrastructures across the African continent.

Benkhadra stated that there are numerous chances for investors in the building of gas pipelines, terminals, and processing facilities, as highlighted in a Vanguard report.

According to her, investments of roughly $100 billion a year will also be necessary by 2030 to meet the continent's electrical consumption, with a potential $3 trillion in total needed by the year 2050.

“And to unlock Africa’s energy future, we will need to develop major infrastructure projects but also at the level of nations and local projects.

"So, we have to raise the ambitions of Africa’s energy strategy to increase the power generation capacity to deepen the reforms of our energy governance, encourage public partnership, private partnership investment, mobilize those international investments that we have seen just before and contribute to development through technology and innovation approaches.”