Managing director of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, Mr. Philip Mshelbila, has said that Gas-to-Power was very important to solve the electricity crisis that enveloped every part of Nigeria.
Mr. Mshelbila said this while speaking at the recently concluded 5th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja. According to him, the country needs to leverage its huge gas potential to accelerate power generation.
The NLNG director was represented at the event by the oil firm’s general manager of production, Mr. Leye Falade, also outlined key strategies that need to be implemented for Nigeria to achieve the objective of the Decade of Gas initiative.
He said there was a need to develop policies and laws that would encourage investment in the gas sector and unlock its potential; as well as the need to invest massively in gas infrastructure and strengthen Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan to reposition the sector.
“We need to look at the issue around our reserves. We are now at 209.5TCF proven reserves. We have 600TCF of unproven reserves but we need to develop it to know the true size of our reserves to attract investment,” he said.
Mr. Mshelbila also maintained that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should be empowered to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that exist in the gas sector.
The NLNG boss therefore called for the rehabilitation of the existing gas assets and pipelines to meet the increasing demand of the product henceforth.
Commending the federal government for declaring 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Gas initiative timeline, Mr. Mshelbila noted that it was imperative for Nigeria to take advantage of its abundant gas resources to solve the socio-economic issues overwhelming the country.
Also making his contribution, the president of Nigeria Gas Association (NGA), Ed Ubong, pointed out that the challenges facing the gas sector include multiple taxation, infrastructure deficit, security, pricing and regulatory framework.
Ubong however expressed hope that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would address some of the identified challenges and attract more investment to the sector.
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