The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is set to expand its domestic gas footprint with the delivery of the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) II to double capacity from 1.1 billion standard cubic feet (BSCF) of gas to 2.2 BSCF.
Group Managing Director of the corporation, Mele Kyari, spoke on the expansion at the fourth sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) in Lagos. Speaking on the theme: “Oil and Gas as an Enabler for Economic Transformation in Sub Saharan Africa,” Kyari stated that the NNPC would commence the construction of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline in the second quarter of 2020 to serve as an enabler to further boost economic activities of the country.
Capturing more LNG market
Furthermore, Kyari explained that the recent passage of the Deep Offshore Act into law has set the industry on the path of irreversible growth. “Nigeria as Africa’s leading exporter of LNG and the fourth in the world after Qatar, Australia and Malaysia, is ready to capture more LNG market with the Final Investment Decision of the NLNG Train 7,” he affirmed.
He explained that resource dependent nations rely on their dominant natural resource to drive other key economic initiatives and activities, noting that it is true of Nigeria and many other countries represented at the conference. “The connection between the oil and gas industry and the Nigeria economy is intricate, hence the state of every aspect of the nation’s economic and social life revolves around hydrocarbon resource,” he explained further.
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Economic transformation
Mr. Kyari further called for more hard work to diversify the economy away from over dependence on oil revenues in order to avoid the risk of market fluctuations that may impact the nation’s fiscal equation. “Oil and gas resources have remained the major source of revenue that has kept the wheels of Nigeria moving for over five decades. Oil, as we all know, has served as key enabler to the economic transformation of many nations like Norway, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and many other oil resources dependent nations,” he said.
“The current government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has made it a priority to ensure revenues from oil and gas resources are utilised to support the emergence and growth of other non-oil sectors of the economy. In order to achieve this objective, it means more money will be required from the oil and gas to fund new economic projects outside the oil and gas industry,” he added.