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Nigeria’s gas reserves ranked 8th in global ranking

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Nigeria has been ranked 8th among ten global countries with the biggest gas reserves.

A new report placed Nigeria after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with natural gas reserves of 5.85 trillion cubic meters.

This makes it the country with the largest proven natural gas reserves in Africa, but utilising these reserves has lagged behind the utilisation of its oil reserves.

Over the past year, events in Europe made it quite clear that envisioning a future may be a noble thing but energy needs are immediate, and gas is perfect for meeting them with a lower emission footprint than fellow fossil fuels oil and coal.

Natural gas has been hailed as the bridge between a fossil fuel past and a low-carbon future. It has also been demonised as a Trojan horse for the fossil fuel industry to continue to be relevant in that low-carbon future envisioned by the architects of the transition.

The countries with the biggest gas reserves in the world are Russia and Iran. Fortunately, the United States is also on the list of the top 5 biggest gas reserve holders, as are several Middle Eastern countries.

Russia is reported as world’s number one and has natural gas reserves of as much as 38 trillion cubic meters, according to the 2020 edition of BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy. Production last year totalled  573 billion cubic meters, down by 13.4 per cent on the year.

Historically, Europe and Turkey were Russia’s biggest gas buyers, but after last year’s events, Turkey has remained the only big consumer of Russian gas with any footprint in Europe. Today, China is the main destination for Russian pipeline gas. Russia also exports Liquified Natural Gas, LNG, and, in an ironic twist, European imports of Russian LNG rose strongly last year.

The world’s second-largest natural gas reserve is Iran with 32 trillion cubic meters, and is home to 1per cent of the global total.

A lot of Iran’s gas reserves are concentrated in the South Pars offshore field in the Persian Gulf, which it shares with Qatar. Total production for 2020 reached 234 billion cubic meters or a daily average of 645 million cubic meters.

Development of the country’s massive gas reserves has been challenging because of the pullout of Western super majors such as Total Energies in the wake of the reinstated U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

Iran’s neighbour Qatar, which calls its part of the massive Persian Gulf field the North Field, is a notch below Iran in terms of gas reserves, with 24.7 trillion cubic meters. Until recently, the largest LNG exporter in the world, Qatar, was expanding its production capacity, aiming for 126 million tons annually from the current 77 million tons.

Qatar was a first choice for European gas buyers in the wake of the anti-Russian sanctions that saw gas flows decimated, but it turned out sealing a deal would be tougher than expected. Qatar turned out to like long-term purchase commitments, and Europe has an aversion to those.

Little known outside Central Asia but one of the biggest states there, Turkmenistan is home to the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, with a total of some 19.5 trillion cubic meters according to BP’s statistical review.

Production is low, however, at just some 59 billion cubic meters in 2020, most of which was exported to China because domestic consumption is also relatively low. The country also exports gas to its Central Asian neighbours.

As with crude oil, the largest producers of gas are not necessarily the countries with the largest reserves. The U.S. has become the world’s top gas producer and LNG exporter, but it only ranks fifth in terms of reserves.

At the end of 2020, these stood at 13.179 trillion cubic meters, according to the CIA’s World Factbook or 625.4 trillion cubic feet at the end of 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration, EIA.

With the abundance of shale gas, the United States has become a major LNG world power in a matter of years. It could cement its place as the number-one exporter within the next decade if all planned projects come on , for a total annual capacity of 169 million tons by 2027.

The rest of the top 10 countries with substantial gas reserves are dominated overwhelmingly by OPEC members. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Nigeria, and Venezuela all boast abundant gas reserves, as does China, at number 10.

The OPEC de facto leader is followed by its Gulf neighbour, the UAE, which OPEC estimates has some 8.2 trillion cubic meters in natural gas reserves. The country’s state oil and gas company recently spun off its gas business, which turned into the biggest IPO for the year, fetching ADNOC $2.5 billion. Venezuela is also among the world’s top natural gas reserve holders, with 5.54 trillion cubic meters in proven reserves.

Saudi Arabia comes in at number 6 with 8.5 trillion cubic meters in natural gas reserves, which it only recently decided to develop more seriously in response to growing global demand.

The exploitation of those reserves, however, is mismatched with the volume of gas it has been sitting on, especially since 2019 when the U.S. slammed Caracas with sanctions specifically targeting its oil and gas industry.

The last entry on the top-ten list of gas reserve holders is China, the world’s largest energy importer and one of the largest consumers. The country, which imports massive amounts of oil and gas, has substantial reserves of its own, but it has been challenging to tap them in volumes large enough to satisfy its fast-growing demand.

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Energy

IPMAN vows to continue strike as petrol hit N2,000 per litre in Adamawa

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The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Adamawa/Taraba chapter, has expressed resolve to continue its ongoing strike even as petrol sells N2,000 per litre.

The IPMAN Chairman, Alhaji Dahiru Buba, stated this in an interview with the journalists in Yola on Tuesday.

He said that the strike was occasioned by incessant harassment of its members and illegal seizures of their tankers carrying petrol by officers of the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS).

He said Customs officers had abandoned their designated areas of operation at the borders and were now targeting legitimate businesses in metropolitan and local government areas.

According to him, these have led to financial losses, artificial scarcity and hike in products’ prices and the strike will continue until NCS stops their activities.

The strike and attendant high cost of petrol has resulted in low vehicular movements on the roads.

Abubakar Muhammed, a resident, told journalists that workers and other commuters now find it difficult to get transport to their offices and destinations.

Muhammad explained that this was due to the sharp rise in transport fares as commuters now pay N700 instead of N300 for a drop.

Most fuel stations in Yola are closed and motorists can only source petrol from black markets in some parts of the metropolis and state.

On June 10, the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Adewale Adeniyi, during a news briefing in Yola, solicited support and cooperation of all stakeholders in the fight against smuggling, especially of petrol.

He said that smuggling of petroleum products across the country’s borders was a sabotage of Nigeria’s economy.

Adeniyi therefore solicited the cooperation and support of all Nigerians with security agencies to curb the menace.

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Energy

Sahara Energy targets zero carbon emissions by 2030

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Sahara Energy has unveiled its target of achieving zero carbon emissions from its oil and gas operations by 2030.

The company, along with its sister companies in the energy value chain, has commenced arrangements to reduce carbon emissions and earn carbon credits for a sustainable future.

The agenda was disclosed at a news conference, tagged, “Carbon Footprint and the African Narrative”,  held by Sahara Group and Asharami Square in Lagos on Tuesday.

Mr Wole Ajeigbe, Group Project Manager, Asharami Energy,  while speaking on “Decarbonisation of Africa’s Upstream Operations”, said Sahara Energy was building a sustainable energy future with an ambitious but pragmatic approach to its upstream carbon net zero journey.

According to him, efforts are ongoing at its seven oil-producing assets across Nigeria to ensure that operations at the sites are considerate of global warming.

Ajeigbe said that the net zero plan would be achieved gradually by reducing and minimising carbon emissions on a yearly basis.

He said that the company had some gas commercialisation projects which were expected to be completed by 2025 to 2026.

He listed the strategies to include; elimination of gas flare across its upstream operations; reduction in freshwater usage during operation; and making use of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) among others.

Emphasiaing its determination, he said that the company had already joined the global group of CCUS, emerging as the first African company in the forum.

Ajeigbe said, to ensure oil and gas continue to be used to meet Africa’s energy demands, the sector needed to decarbonise its operations quickly.

He noted that the energy demand and usage in Africa would increase significantly in coming years,

Ajeigbe stressed the need for the government to create an enabling environment that would stimulate investments and grant fiscal incentives on gas projects such as tax holidays, funding recurities, risk mitigation among others.

The government and stakeholders, according to him, also need to encourage availability of capital pools; improve bankability of gas projects; give support to projects that have taken decarbonisation seriously; and attract skills and develop the capabilities needed for the energy future.

 

Regional Director, West Africa, Ford Foundation, Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, said although Africa was contributing about  four per cent to global warming, the continent has been severely affected by the phenomenon.

She said the fact that Africa holds up to 17 per cent of the global population, yet contributes just four per cent to global carbon emissions.

This, he noted, means that the continent could do more for a sustainable environment through careful and strategic planning.

Aniagolu-Okoye said that Africa must focus not only on challenges, but also on opportunities that global warming presents.

“There are numerous opportunities to place Africa firmly at the forefront of climate debate and the media should lead the campaign,” she said.

The Director, Governance and Sustainability, Sahara Group, Ms Ejiro Gray, spoke on most viable solutions for mitigating carbon emissions and meeting Africa’s development.

According to her, these solutions include natural gas development; increase in use of renewables; protection and rehabilitation of African natural carbon sinks.

Gray said that other were innovation in low cost/low emissions clean energy solutions; carbon culture storage/carbon capture and re-utilisation and utilisation of domestic knowledge.

She said that Sahara had continued to make improvements to its operations, to reduce the carbon footprint and by extension, the continent footprint.

Gray listed some of the strategies to include; increase use of renewables; gas commercialisation; research and development and sustainable energy and carbon sinks.

Others are Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS); tree planting initiatives; and awareness campaigns for youths, among others.

The Head, Corporate Communications, Sahara Group, Bethel Obioma, said the Asharami Square has come to stay and would be having training and mentorship for journalists.

Obioma said that it would also be having Asharami Awards to appreciate those works that had contributed to building sustainability in Africa.

He said that the body was already in partnership with University of Lagos and Pan Atlantic University in the quest to upscale skill on sustainability.

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Energy

Electricity consumers rise to 12.33m in Q1 2024 – NBS

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The number of electricity consumers rose by 210,000 from 12.12 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 12.33 million in the first quarter of 2024.

The National Bureau of Statistics stated in its Electricity Report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 released on Tuesday in Abuja that the increase was by 1.78 per cent.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the review focuses on energy billed, revenue generated, and customers by DISCOS under the reviewed period.

It stated that on a year-on-year basis, the number of electricity customers increased by 9.47 per cent in Q1 2024 from 11.27 million reported in Q1 2023.

It said in Q1 2024, the number of metered customers stood at 5.91 million compared with the 5.61 million recorded in Q4 2023, this indicated a 5.38 per cent increase.

“On a year-on-year basis, the figure grew by 11.26 per cent from the 5.31 million reported in Q1 2023,’’ it said.

Similarly, estimated electricity customers stood at 6.43 million in Q1 2024, showing an increase of 10.22 per cent over the 5.83 million recorded in Q4 2023.

“On a year-on-year basis, estimated customers increased by 7.88 per cent in Q1 2024 from the 5.96 million recorded in Q1 2023,” it stated.

The NBS also said that electricity distribution companies collected N291.62 billion in revenue in Q1 2024 compared with the N294.95 billion they collected in Q4 2023.

It added that on a year-on-year basis, revenue collected rose by 17.91 per cent over the N247.33 billion collected in Q1 2023.

It stated that electricity supply was 5,769 (Gwh) in the first quarter of 2024 from 6,432 (Gwh) recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

However, the report said on a year-on-year basis, electricity supply decreased by 1.41 per cent in Q1 2024 compared with the 5,851 (Gwh) reported in Q1 2023.

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