SAN FRANCISCO, August 29, (THEWILL) – The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has stated that the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to shift focus from oil-dependence to gas is yielding results.
Kachikwu said this Tuesday in Abuja while addressing the press after the signing of a domestic gas supply agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Total Exploration and Production/Nigeria Joint Venture and Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) and Greenville Oil & Gas for the construction of a $500 million first-of-its-kind mini Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in Nigeria.
The mini LNG project to be built by Greenville in phases, would when completed reportedly become the first domestic LNG plant in Nigeria, taking up to 74 metric million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas from Oil Mining License (OML) 58 in Obite Rivers State to Grenville’s plant in Rumuji also in Rivers State for liquefaction and distribution to end users across Nigeria.
Kachikwu said: “President Muhammadu Buhari provided this leadership under the seven big wins. Conversations have been on over the last two-three years,” he said.
“Our first step was to set up the Nigerian Gas Management Company and Nigerian Gas Pipeline Transportation Company.
“I am happy that a few months after we launched the gas policy, we are seeing this happening. We want to ensure that the payment issues are dealt with and made on time so there is a good financing for the project.”
He called on other investors to invest in the sector, saying “we will see what we can do to move this fairly fast from oil-focused to gas-focused zone.”
The Minister admitted that most industries in the North were dying due to the power challenge, he urged the investors to move quickly to help solve the problem.
The Gas Sales Aggregation Agreement will bring an investment of 500 million dollars in the first phase and 350 million dollars in the second phase.
It will also lead to many Compressed Natural Gas companies selling directly to consumers across the country.
