The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has affirmed Nigeria’s preparedness to play a strategic role in the new global energy order.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, who spoke yesterday at the Decade of Gas Pre-summit Conference in Abuja, stated that technology and innovation were facilitating a new global energy order aimed at decarbonizing the world and safeguarding the climate, stressing that renewable energy sources such as solar and wind which would be key components of the new energy mix were largely influenced by seasons and were non-transportable to demand centres where they are in short supply.
He explained that under the circumstances, natural gas, and by extension blue hydrogen, would be heavily depended upon as transition fuels to play a key role in the clean energy drive and would provide significant proportion of the global energy mix as well as guarantee feedstock to gas-based industries.
“Nigeria, under the visionary leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, has committed huge resources to ensure that domestic gas infrastructure reach every corner of our country to deepen natural gas utilization, spur investment in power and gas-based industries, grow the economy and generate employment for millions of our young people,” Mallam Kyari informed.
Nigeria as a gas nation with over 203trillion standard cubic feet (tscf) of proven gas reserves,he said, is monetizing the huge gas resources spurred by numerous policy and industry interventions since 2016, culminating in the declaration of 2020 as the year of gas and progressing into the decade of gas from 2021.
He stated that NNPC and its partners have embarked on a number of strategic projects to deepen delivery of gas to the domestic market and elevate the build-up of greater potentials for export.
He noted that the Federal Government has also rolled out the autogas initiative to provide alternative cleaner and cheaper transportation fuel to petrol, adding that the initiative has received huge support from the entire energy industry and gained tremendous traction.
