Nigeria to raise gas exploration by 20% – Commission

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has said Nigeria will deepen gas exploration by 20 per cent by the end of the decade.

It also said the country was committed to energy transition plan with a plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.

The Executive Commissioner, NUPRC, Rose Ndong, made the revelation while speaking at the pre-conference workshop of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists held in Lagos.

According to her, gas remains Nigeria’s transitional fuel, and that the country is on track to also increase exploration by 50 per cent after the decade.

“Beyond the sad story of Nigeria not meeting up to its energy transition plan, I want to reassure everyone that we are actually in a good place. Nigeria is already transitioning before the COP26 because we have already signed the gas pact. We are therefore fully committed to reach net zero by 2060 by making sure that companies bring their gas to the market instead of flaring them. We definitely cannot abandon gas”, she said.

Nigeria’s current proven gas reserves stands at 208TCF, and 600TCF unproven reserves.

Group General Manager, NAPIMS, Bala Wunti represented by the General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Exchange, one of its arm, Andrew Grant during his presentation at the annual pre-conference workshop of the Nigeria Association of Petroleum Explorationists held in Lagos on Wednesday, had said the world, Nigeria inclusive, would have little or no progress report on its energy transition efforts to present at the next COP27 meeting slated for Egypt in November.

According to him, Nigeria is currently not doing enough to achieve its 2060 commitment to net zero emissions and energy transition plan.

“Nigeria is working towards reducing our carbon footprints. We also have other things in that plan like the national forest policy, which aims to promote sustainable forest management because you know forests are very important in reducing carbon footprints.”