Goddy Egene
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Mr. Roger Brown, has identified its fast-growing gas business as a strong catalyst for sustainable economic development and growth of Nigeria.
Brown stated this at the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) 12th biennial International Conference with the theme: “Powering Forward: Enabling Nigeria’s Industrialisation Via Gas,” held virtually.
He described gas business as a revolution, indicating that the direction is laudable and highly rewarding to the Nigerian people and the economy at large.
Speaking on the company’s contributions to the Nigerian Gas industry, Brown said: “Our new Sapele Gas Plant processing capacity (PC) is 75MMscfd, increasing PC in the West to 540MMscfd (Oben and Sapele). Seplat currently contributes about 30 per cent of gas to power generation in Nigeria. Its ANOH Project is to add 300MMscfd capacity and unlock over 1,200MW of gas constrained power generation capacity.”
He, however, stressed the need to build institutional capacity to drive and sustain the transition, which is critical to attaining value and wealth advancement.
The Seplat CEO also called for the need to drive investments through liquidity pools such as the capital markets, bonds and PFAs as well as exploring a myriad of financing options to provide funding for gas infrastructure projects.
According to him, Seplat is strategically positioned to access Nigeria’s main demand centers, with its current well stock delivering 300 – 350MMscfd (Gross).
Commenting on some of the challenges bedeviling the gas-to-power drive, Brown said capital intensity, under-investment, delayed delivery of planned gas infrastructure, poor pipeline network, lack of cost reflective tariffs and huge debts in the power sector; lack of clear gas fiscal terms for PSCs and delay in passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), amongst others, were issues to be addressed.
Given the company’s industry strides, Seplat honoured with the NGA Special Recognition Award for its strong and outstanding support in its service to the Nigerian gas industry and the NGA.
Commending Seplat and other players for their dedication to the growth of the sector, President, NGA, Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, said there is the need to continously project and leverage the potential of gas towards enabling and reinvigorating Nigeria’s industrial sector.
“Riding on the declaration by the Honourable Minister of state, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, to dedicate the new decade to the promotion and adoption of natural gas as the fuel of choice for national growth, it has become imperative for us to reinforce this paradigm, leveraging its benefits across diverse key sectors in Nigeria and across Africa,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, in his address, said the corporation was committed to fulfilling President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to boost domestic gas supply.
Represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Mr. Yusuf Usman, Kyari stated that progress was being made on several of the projects, including the NLNG Train 7, with a foreign direct investment of between $3 billion and $5 billion and the ANOH gas project, with a fully completed financing arrangement.
He listed others as the AKK, which he described as one the largest and most aggressive gas infrastructure that has ever been embarked upon in Nigeria, stretching 614 km from Ajaokuta, Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, and Lot B of the OB3 gas project, which is already producing 125 mmscfd of gas.
