Komolafe urges full utilization of hydrocarbon resource for industrialization, economic growth

Wed, Oct 19, 2022
By editor
4 MIN READ

Oil & Gas

By Anthony Isibor.

THE Federal Government has been urged to enhance full utilization of hydrocarbon resources for industrialisation and economic growth of the country. 

Presenting a keynote address at the Maiden PENGASSAN Annual Conference tagged Energy and Labour Summit, in Abuja on Tuesday October 18 2022, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed that the declaration of gas as transition fuel towards a low-carbon future, has further re-enforced the fact that Nigeria is more of a gas rich than oil-rich nation. 

According to him, the call became even more necessary as projections show that over the next two decades, rapid population growth and industrialization are expected to drive strong energy demand growth across Nigeria and Africa, including fossil fuels, which will result in increase in job opportunities.

He also noted that estimates show that the energy demand across Africa in 2040 could be around 30 percent higher than it is today, compared with a 10 percent increase in global energy demand.

This, according to him, will result in the creation of various jobs, especially through the implementation of the following gas-centric policies of government: 

1) The Natural Gas Expansion Programme, NGEP. 

2) Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund 

3) Domestic Gas Delivery Obligation 

“Comrades, it is believed that these policies would spur investment to expand the critical gas infrastructure that will entrench Nigeria as a gas hub in-Country, across Africa and eventually Europe. Some major in-Country projects include: the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline will supply gas for power, domestic use, and industrialisation along the Northern corridor, the Escravos to Lagos Pipeline-2 will supply gas for power, domestic use, and industrialisation along the South-West corridor, the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) pipeline will supply gas for power, domestic use, and industrialisation along the South-South corridor, LNG Train 7, the OCP-NSIA Ammonia plant in Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria-Morocco pipeline to utilise the nation’s rich gas resources to meet customer demands across Africa and Europe, this will invariably lead to the creation of more jobs in-Country. 

“As stated earlier, it is expected that gas reserves would be a more resilient energy source under a range of energy transition scenarios. The Natural Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, NGFCP, National Policy on Decade of Gas, which is hinged on the Natural Gas Expansion Programme, NGEP, Natural Gas Flare Elimination and Monetisation Plan in line with Section 110 of the PIA, 2021, Guideline for Management of Fugitive Methane and Greenhouse Gases Emissions in the Upstream Oil and Gas Operations in Nigeria and the inclusion of Gas Infrastructure Fund in the PIA are robust regulatory enablers to facilitate these energy resilience approaches that will make our hydrocarbon projects low carbon emitters and more attractive to investors. 

“Having identified rapid population growth and the need for industrialisation as the enablers that will drive demand for energy across Nigeria and Africa, it is important to share our perspective on another enabler that will be affected by the energy transition – which is access to capital pools. Innovative approaches will have to be developed to attract investment to the oil and gas industry during this time of energy transition.

“What is paramount at this time is for the nation to weigh her options and strengthen the resilience and sustainability of our resource base in order to build robust positions in the new energy businesses of the future. Consequently, our position on the hydrocarbon cost curve is very important as this is a pointer to the competitiveness of our supply given the global nature of oil and gas demand and supply dynamics,” he said. 

“Equally, our local content regulations must aim to strike an appropriate balance between building local-industry capacity and reducing costs,” he added.

A.I

Tags: