With European countries facing gas supply challenges due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has urged the USA government to support the funding of natural gas development in Nigeria as an alternative source of energy to Europe.
Chief Sylva who spoke during a meeting with the US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, on the side-line of the ongoing Ceraweek, in Houston Texas said the collaboration between the US and Nigeria in this area would be of immense benefits to both countries as well as the entire globe.
A statement by the Senior Adviser (Media & Communications) to Minister of State Petroleum Resource, Horatius Egua, yesterday, quoted Chief Sylva as saying that “It is in the interests of the global community that there is an alternative supply of gas to Europe. The challenge for us to achieve this feat has been lack of infrastructure and we need funding to develop infrastructure for our gas and we believe that the US can provide that funding”.
The Minister told Granholm that Nigeria has an abundance of natural gas resources that can meet European gas demands nothing that the problem has been accessing to funding.
He said as part of efforts to boost gas supplies across the African continent, Nigeria has embarked upon the construction of 600 kilometers of the Ajaokuta- Kaduna- Kano (AKK) gas pipeline designed to take gas to Europe via North Africa and therefore called on the US to provide the needed funding for infrastructure for the exploitation of the huge natural gas in Nigeria.
“We have access to gas but access to funding has been the problem. We desire to be able to take gas from Nigeria through Algeria to Europe. We have already kickstarted the AKK gas pipeline project and if we have the required funding we can complete that project in two years, “the minister said adding that Nigeria has “over 206 tcl of natural gas reserve and unproven reserve of 600 tcl. We believe that if we target the exploitation of natural gas in Nigeria, we will be able to get up to 600 tcl. We need to have the needed funding to develop our gas and the US can provide us this funding”.
The minister said the crisis between Russia and Ukraine was a wake-up call to have alternative sources of gas to Europe stressing that in “situations like this, it is always good to have an alternative. It is time to say let’s look forward”.
Speaking on the burning issue of global energy transition, Sylva said for the energy transition programme to be meaningful, the peculiar problems of Africa must be factored into the entire energy transition arrangement.
He called on the US to support Nigeria and other African countries in the areas of funding and technology stressing that it is through such collaborations that the energy transition programme can be “fast-tracked”.
Sylva however cautioned that such funding and technological support must be made accessible to interested countries.
In her remarks, Granholm expressed the readiness of the US to cooperate with Nigeria to develop her renewable energy sector, noting that her government was not against the development of gas or other sources of energy.
She said the US government would be willing to support Nigeria in developing her renewable energy sources and therefore called for a coordinated strategy to pin down specific areas of focus where funding and other supports would be required.
“Investors are interested in funding renewable energy in Nigeria but they are interested in knowing possible areas of focus. We have to work out a structured way to access the fund” Granholm said.
