Nigeria may become 3rd largest gas exporter soon – Experts

Nigeria has huge gas potential and could become the third largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the world with the coming on board of the $7 billion Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) train seven project, the International Gas Union (IGU) said yesterday.

Speaking the 11th Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) international conference and exhibition in Abuja the Secretary General of the IGU, Luis Bertrán Rafecas said global demand and consumption for natural gas are rising just as new gas projects are coming on stream from regions that did not previously have gas potentials adding that gas would remain the fastest growing fuel in the world.

He, however, said the ability of the country to bring to life the NLNG Train 7 project could put the country in good stead over other upcoming projects elsewhere.

NLNG which is a private limited liability company owned by the Federal Government, represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with 49 per cent stake; Shell (25.6 per cent); Total (15 per cent) and Eni (10.4 per cent) last month announced that it was shopping for $7bn to construct an extra gas processing train called Train 7.

Also speaking, President of NGA, Dada Thomas noted that there was need for the west Africa region to collaborate on building gas infrastructure and developing robust regional gas master plan that will lead to the development of the sector. at