“Gas is Revenue. Gas is jobs. Gas can guarantee us economic security.”
These were some of the affirmations shared by Engineer Chichi Emenike, the Head of Gas Ventures, Neconde Energy, at the virtual roundtable session by Nestoil on Thursday, 20th August 2020.
The roundtable session themed “Gas: The New Frontier for Nigeria’s Sustainable Growth,” centred on gas as a sustainable means of energy and how to sustainably develop the industry at scale.
The engineer pointed out that Nigeria is more of a gas-producing nation than crude oil.
“We have unproven reserves of up to 600TCFs (Trillion cubic feet) of gas yet unlocked. We haven’t touched a tenth of our gas reserves,” she said, explaining that crude oil drilling activities generate most of the gas used in the country.
“The world has moved on from crude oil, and we need to recognize that in Nigeria.”
She also spoke about the need to invest in the gas sector as other countries have moved on to more sustainable and stable forms of energy. The Neconde Engineer highlighted the instability of crude oil prices worldwide due to geopolitical situations, and the need to establish stability with gas, by opening up the domestic gas economy.
“We have seen what has happened this period over the past five months; Crude oil prices went south, but gas prices remained fairly stable.”
Engineer Chichi Emenike also touched on the significant issue in the gas industry, which is funding. “Funding in the gas market,” she said, “is contingent on a bankable market. You want paying customers”. She cited this as the problem with investors as they do not have a clear line of sight regarding investments. This is due to the lack of a Petroleum Industry Bill, Forex mismatch and liquidity issues with the power sector, which is the largest offtake of gas.
