Nigerian govt announces rise in Nigeria’s gas reserve to 208.62 tcf, highest in Africa

The Federal government has revealed that Nigeria’s gas reserve has recorded a slight increase from 206.53 trillion cubic feet in 2021 to 208.62 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in January 2022.

Gbenga Komolafe, the chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission disclosed this over the weekend in Abuja.

According to him the nation’s oil and condensate reserves status as of January 1, 2022, was 37.046 billion barrels representing a slight increase of 0.37 percent compared to 36.910 billion barrels as at January 1, 2021.

He continued: “on the other hand, the national gas reserves status as of January 1, 2022, was 208.62 tcf, representing an increase of 1.01 percent compared to 206.53 tcf as of January 1, 2021.

“With a proven gas reserve base of 208.62tcf, we are on track to increase our reserves volumes to 220tcf in less than 10 years and 250tcf thereafter,” he said.

The latest figure shows that Nigeria retains its position as the African country with the highest reserves.

The closest rival to Nigeria is Algeria – 159.1 trillion cubic feet followed by Senegal 120 trillion cubic feet.

Komolafe in his comment assured that the commission has initiated campaigns to identify oil and gas wells that are producing below capacity.

He noted that it was important Nigeria is positioned to take advantage of the gap in the global gas demand-supply chain created by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has provided Nigeria with a unique opportunity to fill this gap through the implementation of several natural gas developmental initiatives.

Read also: Nigeria’s gas cylinder plants’ investments threatened

“As the Federal Government has declared the years 2021-2030 to be the ‘Decade of Gas’, the commission is taking steps to expand and develop the nation’s huge gas re- sources through enhanced gas exploration, development and utilisation schemes which will lead to gas reserves growth, increased gas production, maturation of the domestic and export gas market, as well as gas flare elimination.

Data from NUPRC indicates that Nigeria currently produces about 8BSCF/D of gas, out of which 20 per cent is delivered to the domestic market, approximately 40 percent is exported to international markets, and 30 percent is utilised for producers’ internal consumption and the excess gas is flared.

Ripples Nigeria in an earlier report revealed that in the first three months of 2022, Nigeria made $387.72 million from Gas sales more than $177.86 million in revenue from oil.

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