(Ecofin Agency) – In Nigeria, the government is accelerating initiatives to achieve the monetization of natural gas, the reserves of which are the largest in Africa but are nevertheless under-exploited.
In line with the Federal Government’s ambitions targeting the monetization of Nigeria’s natural gas production, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Friday, October 11, entered into a natural gas sale and purchase agreement.
The agreement concerns the Anglo-Dutch company Shell, the French company TotalEnergies and the Italian multinational Eni. Together, these companies will deliver 270 million cubic feet of gas to the Brass Fertilizer & Petrochemical Company for the production of methanol, an important organic chemical compound in various industrial applications.
With this agreement, this $3.3 billion project, pending for almost a decade, is making positive progress towards its realization. According to Ekperikpe Ekpo, the Minister of State for Gas, it “will save Nigeria about $200 million in foreign exchange per year,” while stimulating employment.
According to Statista, the country holds the largest proven reserves of natural gas in Africa at the end of 2023, valued at 5.94 trillion standard cubic meters. Natural gas exports from the leading black African producer were of the order of 29.7 billion standard cubic meters in 2022.
Earlier this month, the government announced the introduction of a legal framework to attract at least $5 billion in investment in the offshore gas sector.
Abdel-Latif Boureima
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