The Deputy Director, Gas Monitoring and Regulation, Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Antigha Ekaluo, has said that Nigeria’s gas reserve life index stands at 79 years as of January 1 this year.
Ekaluo, who disclosed this in a presentation at the 16th Annual General Meeting/Natural Gas Business Forum 2015 of the Nigerian Gas Association held in Lagos said out of this figure, some volumes are said to be stranded or not developed.
Ekaluo, who disclosed this in a presentation at the 16th Annual General Meeting/Natural Gas Business Forum 2015 of the Nigerian Gas Association held in Lagos said Nigeria has 188 trillion cubic feet in gas reserves as of January 1 this year.
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In his presentation entitled: ‘Harnessing and monetising the potential of stranded gas fields: A key enabler for economic and national growth,’ Ekaluo said Nigeria’s gas reserves endowment might be up to 600TCF, quoting the United States Geological Survey, adding that the country ranked seventh in the world and first in Africa in gas reserves base.
According to him, natural gas potential exists in inland basins like the Benue Trough, Borno and Anambra basins, but with the natural gas accumulation mainly concentrated in the Niger Delta Basin.
He said substantial discoveries had been made in the deep offshore area, stressing that all natural gas discoveries were incidental to exploration for crude oil.
He described stranded natural gas as that, which was available but not developed due to economic and physical constraints, adding that stranded gas could also be gas reserves in remote fields, which would be uneconomic for monetisation.
“They could also be associated gas reserves without gas gathering systems,” Ekaluo explained.
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According to him, capital and operating expenditures are stifling the growth of gas infrastructure, as well as immature/sub-commercial domestic market, disincentive fiscal terms (high risk, low return) and absence of robust legislative and commercial framework for gas.
He said Nigeria was endowed with abundant gas resources and the sector holds huge potential for unprecedented growth.
He lamented that the existing legal and regulatory framework, written primarily for oil, does not provide robust technical and commercial framework for gas.
“There is, therefore, the need to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill into law, which will underpin the ongoing sector reforms.
“The gas sector policies will provide Nigeria with the opportunity to harness and get maximum value from its stranded gas resources, as effective gas sector development remained a catalyst for growth and will have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy,” he said.
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