The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation has stated that Natural gas is a critical resource that would play a leading role in the march towards economic growth and development of Africa.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed this while delivering a lecture on “Natural Gas – Catalyst for Africa’s Economic Development and Integration” at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Headquarters in Doha, Qatar
Dr. Baru, who was represented at the event by the NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, revealed that 93% of current natural gas production in Africa is being produced by Members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, thereby making it imperative that efforts be intensified for in – continent conversion that will ensure value addition to natural gas for economic growth and development of the continent.
“Today, our focus in Nigeria is to deliberately ensure that our Natural gas development efforts meet our twin objective of export and domestic supply. Our thematic focus areas for natural gas development is to ensure that we meet our Gas to Power targets, Gas based Industrialization aspirations as well as supply to the export market and we are aggressively pursuing some big-ticket projects in that regard,” he revealed.
Engr Mohammed further spoke on some critical gas development projects in Nigeria including, The NLNG Train 7 project, the Gas Flare Commercialization Project and the Deep-water Non-Associated Gas Development Projects, which he described as “big bang” initiatives being aggressively pursued to usher in new developments for Nigeria’s gas sector and expand the nation’s economy.
He further stressed that the projects are also capable of unlocking new vistas for the country’s gas resources for the economic growth and development of the nation
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum Lecture Series is an initiative where Global Leaders and Stakeholders in the Gas sector comprising producers, consumers, business leaders, academic and international organizations come together to discuss and debate important natural gas related issues in the global energy landscape.
The Nigerian delegation led by Engr Mohammed consists of the GECF Executive Board Member for Nigeria, Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim and the Nigeria’s Country representative to the GECF Mr. Bala Wunti, amongst other.
