The Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) has said that a consensus on a pricing framework will go a long way in attracting growth investments in the gas industry.
The group disclosed this during a recently held webinar, which had the key stakeholders in the global and local industries present.
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The delegates affirmed that gas policies in the upstream industry, including asset renewals, should guarantee the viability of gas projects to balance the government’s revenue targets and commercial interest of investors.
They noted that the prevailing transitional pricing regime should be short-tenured to enable early migration of transactions to full commercial liberalisation and allow competition to address concerns of affordability.
The delegates further argued that the government should consider the use of direct subsidies to stimulate industrial growth rather than introduce pricing systems that distort market operations.
They also posited that liquidity issues that hamper returns from the power sector be speedily resolved to address legacy debts and facilitate full recovery of gas revenues from the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
The President of NGA, Mrs. Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, explained that the true wealth of Nigeria as a nation is not in the abundance of gas resources, but rather in how extensively the nation is able to apply it towards value-added processes in various sectors, such as residential, commercial, industrial, petrochemical, power, agricultural, transportation, and others as highlighted by her.
The Country Chair of Shell companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, who was represented by Mr Taaj Shobajo noted that achieving consensus pricing will help in attracting growth investments, secure project funding and sustain supplies.
