The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has said Nigeria is among 10 top global gas producers and the most extensive in Africa.
Sylva stated this yesterday at the 2022 Annual Public Lecture of The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Bwari Branch in Abuja.
He said at present only gas can meet the three priorities of Nigeria which are security of supply, economic competitiveness, and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as the world intensifies energy transition.
Sylva said: “This puts Nigeria with approximately 206.53 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of proven gas valued at over $803.4 trillion and potential upside of 600TCF of gas, the most extensive in Africa, and in the top 10 globally. “And luckily for Nigeria, the European Union has proposed labelling natural gas as a ‘green energy’ source, a development that could translate into huge economic value for Nigeria,” he noted.
He said the growth of gas reserves is a critical lever to achieving the federal government’s “Decade of Gas Initiative’’, aimed at transforming Nigeria to a gas-powered economy by 2030.
The Decade of Gas is a decade of opportunities – ranging from a decade of elimination of gas flaring, a decade of more domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), a decade of fully gas-powered economy and natural gas as we all know is also food, from fertilizers as components of gas are used to make fertilizer, helping to feed billions of people.
“The foregoing is why I have repeatedly stated that Nigeria requires fossil fuels as its baseload energy source because only renewable energy as the sole pathway to energy transition is a source of concern for Nigeria and African countries that are still working to achieve baseload industrialization, address energy poverty and ensure reliable power supply,” the minister noted.
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