A Nigerian oil and gas firm, NESGAS Limited, has signed a $200 million deal to expand gas operations in Nigeria, with the construction of a 50,000 metric tonnes storage facility.
The storage facility will be constructed in Onne, Rivers State, and is expected to significantly boost Nigeria’s liquefied petroleum gas storage capacity from the current capacity of 800,000 metric tonnes, closer to the target of 5 million tonnes.
The $200 million contractor financing agreement with Cakasa Nigeria Limited was signed in Abuja, and the Managing Director of NESGAS, Tunde Banjo, assured that it would be promptly executed.
Mr Banjo expressed his excitement over the new deal, while speaking at the signing ceremony in Abuja, and noted that it would accelerate Nigeria’s transmission to clean energy, the GUARDIAN reports.
He assured that NESGAS had the capacity and expertise to execute it, and that partnering with Cakasa would further ensure the timely and expert execution of the project.
He said;
Nigeria’s gas sector is growing steadily, with about $10 billion projected market size in the future. The government has continued to show its commitment to driving the transition to clean energy and has projected 5 million metric tonnes distribution of liquefied natural gas annually.
Nigeria only has storage capacities ranging from 4,000 to 20,000 metric tonnes, so the construction of a 50,000 storage capacity promises to be the gamechanger.
The use of cooking gas continues to grow popular in Nigerian households, and the government’s projections is to enable over 60 million households to use LPG by 2030.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shared that the price of cooking gas has gone up by more than 44% within one year – from December 2023 to December 2024.
In related news, Nigeria earned $831.14bn from Oil & Gas sector in 24 years despite the under-exploration of natural gas.
This is according to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
Within this period, the country also lost at least 701 million barrels of oil to the activities of crude oil thieves.
NEITI called for infrastructural development in the gas sector, as well as Nigeria’s solid minerals exploration to help Nigerians reap more from the industry.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
