NNPC Plans Pipeline Infrastructure To Deliver Gas To Europe

The Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd is planning massive investments in pipeline infrastructure that will deliver gas from Nigeria to Europe through the North African region.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, disclosed this on Monday during the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum held in the United Arab Emirates.

Kyari who spoke virtually on the ‘Role of gas in the energy transition’ said the country’s energy poverty can be resolved through massive investment in gas infrastructure.

Nigeria committed to net zero carbon emission by 2060 and the federal government has chosen gas as its transition fuel.

Europe is currently planning to cut two- thirds of its dependence on Russia’s gas this year.

Kyari said, “So, what we are doing is some kind of replacement such that we move from the dirtier fuel to cleaner fuel which is gas. And what we had to do is to build enormous gas infrastructure required to ensure that there is sufficient supply of gas into the domestic market and provide some for the international market.

“And more than that, within the West African context, you will see that energy inefficiency and poverty that you see in Nigeria is also in many West African countries around us.

“Therefore, we are trying to see how we can build a network of pipeline infrastructure that will deliver gas and potentially to jump into Europe through Morocco or through Algeria. This is what we are working on.”

The drive for massive gas investment received a boost when President Muhammadu Buhari on 16th August, 2021 signed the Petroleum Industry Act.

Nigeria has 203 trillion-cubit gas deposit and the NNPC Ltd in 2020 embarked on massive gas pipelines project, through the National Gas Expansion Programme.

The National oil company is also making concerted efforts in the gas sector through various projects such as the NLNG Train 7, Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano Natural Gas Pipeline, Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben Gas Pipeline (OB3) and the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS).

Kyari told the Atlantic Council that Nigeria’s 203 trillion-cubit gas resources will be enough to cover the West African region and other parts of the globe.

According to the NNPC boss, the country will experience population growth of 307 million people by 2047, adding that this may trigger more energy poverty if measures are not put in place to boost energy security.

He said at the current population of over 200 million people, Nigeria has a huge gap in terms of energy accessibility and a disparity between the rich and the poor.

As part of the infrastructure to boost the gas transition, Kyari said the country is moving its energy sources from thermal sources to other sources of energy

“You do need about 7gw of energy from renewables every year to close this gap as we go forward.

“We are working toward that direction. But more than that you know, in terms of our supply of energy in our country today, 70 per cent of energy, electricity for instance is coming from thermal sources and these thermal sources particularly in our country today, most of them are not coming from gas majority of them are coming from fuel oil and other dirtier fuel,” he added.

Kyari also lamented the impact of carbon emission on the country’s climate, noting that the felling of trees for charcoal as cooking fuel has a negative impact on the environment.

The GMD said, “What this means to us is that desertification is real. As we speak today, majority of our country people use charcoal as cooking fuel and that means you must find a replacement for this and the replacement for this is typically using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)or compressed natural gas (CNG). Anyhow you look at it, you must have an immediate replacement over a period of time.

“As we speak today, the desert encroaches South-ward in our country by 3 to 4 kilometers every year. This is nothing other than the effect of climate change.

“Of course, you may naturally know the effect of cutting down trees is far more than what the internal combustion vehicles do. In our country today, mass transportation is very weak, the only way you can reduce the number of internal combustion engines is to increase those infrastructures.”