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Shell gas MD: ‘Nigeria has enough gas for electricity generation

The President, Nigeria Gas Association, Ed Ubong, has said the gas resources in Nigeria is capable of providing electricity to the 85 million Nigerians, who currently do not have access to electricity.

 

Speaking at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja, he stressed that making power available and accessible, would remain the most important success the decade of gas initiative would bring to the citizenry.

 

 

Ubong, who is also the Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas, also stressed that in the next three years, the right regulatory structures must be put in place to allow commercial activities thrive, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) must be gas friendly and passed into law, sustainable infrastructures must be built if Nigeria wants to achieve its aspirations as far as gas was concerned.

 

He said: “There are a lot of thematic areas we need to focus on; we must unlock the challenges that exist in the gas sector to cover value chain and improve access to energy for the over 85 million Nigerians who currently have no access to electricity.

 

“We must address cultural issues around the grid; how do we reduce distribution losses, how do we ensure that payments happen. This is a critical measure for success and if in 10 years, we are where we are today, the decade of gas will not happen successfully.”

 

According to him, there was the need to unlock the industrial and manufacturing potentials that exist in the country through large scale gas based industries.

 

“This is important because to bring commercial security to the gas value chain, you need a number of players who can pay for the gas being consumed and today those customers are the big industries, the manufacturing plants, production customers.

 

“Nigerian industries today pay for the gas they consume on time; we must enable more gas to them, we must build the right infrastructure to ensure they remain up and employ a large number of people that exist in that sector,” he added.

 

While noting that global gas production, export and consumption has doubled in recent years, he raised concerns that despite the huge gas resource base in the country, Nigeria was lagging behind in gas development.

 

“Today in Africa, gas only accounts for 5 per cent of our energy mix. Globally, it’s 20 per cent. That is where the real opportunities is. How do we use gas to meet the energy needs of our people in Africa and Nigeria?

 

“Nigeria is sitting on a large, huge resource base of gas but how much gas are we producing? We are a top 10 country when we talk of what we have but when you talk of what we are actually producing, we begin to sit back. We are in the top 20 range.

 

“Yes, we are producing gas but how much of gas are we consuming, using to drive our economy? Nigeria moves even further. We are now in the top 50. That is the dilemma if you look at Nigeria today in the global landscape.”

 

“We must accelerate our gas consumption if we are able to utilise the gas we have over the limited period we have before the energy transition.

 

“Harnessing our gas gap resources is key to our own development; it gives us the ability to lift millions out of poverty giving them the right economic needs to meet their basic needs and wellbeing.

 

It gives us a pathway for development and growth, creating significant opportunities to build a viable manufacturing and industrial sector,” he said.

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