The federal government has announced the discovery of an additional 3.53 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) of gas in the country, further boosting the existing quantum of reserve to 206.53 TCF.
Speaking at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), held in Abuja recently, the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sarki Auwalu, noted that the 2021 figure, was a major step towards the 220TCF target it set for itself earlier.
Of the aforementioned amount, Auwalu stated that the quantum of associated gas now stands at 100.73TCF, while non-associated gas is 105.8 TCF to arrive at the new figure, in line with the federal government’s “decade of gas” declaration.
Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and holds the largest natural gas reserves on the continent. It was the world’s fifth largest exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in 2018, although it continues to battle with incessant blackouts due to gas shortage to power its electric plants.
Auwalu stated that Nigeria’s human and natural resource coupled with being Africa’s largest economy, places it at a vantage position for investment and participation, reason the regulatory agency has continued to grow the country’s reserves.
According to him, Nigeria is positioned to optimally develop its oil and gas resources for the benefit of 200 million shareholders, adding that indigenous operators have a significant role to play in that regard.
He assured that government would support indigenous and marginal field operators to grow, share, and enhance participation in the sector for wealth and value creation.
“I’m happy to announce that a critical lever to achieve the decade of gas is progressing speedily. Because we surely do have gas reserve growth. First, Nigeria achieved the target of 200 trillion cubic feet of gas as at January 1, 2019, before the 2020 targets. Thereafter, government set a target of a reserve position of 220 TCF by 2030.
“As a department, we have continued to drive the performance to grow reserve through dedicated gas exploration, deep drilling, optimal appraisal, field studies and improved oil recovery. It is therefore my pleasure to formally declare the national gas reserve position as at January 1, 2021.
“By the powers conferred upon me by the petroleum drilling and production regulation, 1969, as amended, and other powers enabling me in that respect, I hereby declare as follows: natural gas reserves as at January 1, 2021, now stands at 206.53 trillion cubic feet.
“Of the natural gas reserve as at January 1, 2021, the associated gas position is now 100.73 trillion cubic feet of gas and non-associated gas stands at 105.8 trillion cubic feet of gas, totalling 206.53 trillion cubic feet of gas,” he said.
On the recently awarded marginal fields, Auwalu stated that there is need for more intense work to accelerate it and bring about a lot more opportunities in the sector.
Talking about opportunities in the industry, he noted that in the midstream gas sector, there are gaps to be filled in distribution and supply, cross-national pipeline networks as well as opportunities in the gas flare volume that the sector is working towards eliminating.
“There are also potential in services sub-sector, opportunities for power, creation of industrial parks and when you look at the downstream gas and what our indigenous and marginal producers will do, there’s a gap that exists in distribution,” he added.
Looking at the penetration of LPG, CNG and domestic LNG, he noted that there exists potential through the use of virtual pipelines, pending the completion of the critical pipelines and getting to distribution.
