Nigeria generated approximately N8.6tn from natural gas production in 2024, The PUNCH reports.
Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission indicated that the country produced 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas last year.
The NUPRC data indicated that the country produced 1.44TCF of associated gas.
Associated gas is a form of natural gas found with deposits of petroleum, either dissolved in the oil or as a free ‘gas cap’ above the oil in the reservoir.
Similarly, 1.06TCF of non-associated gas was produced in the period under review.
Non-associated natural gas is a type of natural gas that is produced in gas fields that do not contain crude oil.
However, out of the 2.5TCF of gas produced in 2024, 2.31TCF was utilised while 192.89 billion standard cubic feet of gas was flared.
Recall that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority set the Year 2024 Domestic Base Price of natural gas at $2.42 per Million Metric British Thermal Units.
One trillion cubic feet is equivalent to approximately 1,025,000,000 MMBTU. The utilised 2.31TCF of the gas produced last year is approximately 2,370,061,914 MMBTU. When multiplied by $2.42, it amounts to about $5.74bn.
At an average exchange rate of N1,500 to a dollar, the figure translates to about N8.6tn generated from gas production in 2024.
This sum was generated by the government and private companies in the gas sector.
However, the NUPRC data added that 733.94 billion cubic feet of the gas was for field use, 673.64bcf was sold domestically and 905.34bcf was for export sales.
In all, 92.2 per cent of the total gas produced was utilised and 7.69 per cent was flared. Gas shrinkage took about 2.46 million standard cubic feet.
Our correspondent observed that the gas produced in 2023 was 2.49 tcf. 2.3tcf was utilised while 183.52bcf was flared.
This indicated that the gas flaring in 2024 was higher than that of 2023, even as the government makes efforts to reduce flaring.
The NUPRC data showed that Nigeria produced an average of 7bcf of gas per day in 2024.
Last year, the Federal Government said gas production in Nigeria would soon grow from 7.5bcf per day to 12bcf/day.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, disclosed that his major focus during his second year in office will be ramping up gas production and turning Nigeria into a gas economy, in line with the Decade of Gas initiative.
“In the Decade of Gas, we are looking at turning Nigeria into a gas economy by 2030, in which case, we are looking at growing from 7.5 billion cubic feet to about 12bcf. So, we are progressing in that direction to make sure we have gas sufficiency in the country,” he stated.
The gas minister expressed optimism that more gas would be produced, especially as some international oil companies divested to deep water.
“The sustainability plan is all about producing more gas from the gas resources,” Ekpo assured Nigerians.
He added, “You know that some of the IOCs are moving from the shallow water to the deep water where you have a huge gas deposit. So, with the commitment of President Bola Tinubu, there is that assurance that we will have sufficient gas to sustain what we are looking at,” he assured.
According to the NUPRC, Nigeria’s reserves of associated gas and non-associated gas stand at 209.26 trillion cubic feet.
The PUNCH reports that Nigeria is planning to build a gas economy with an intent to reduce its heavy use of petrol and diesel which it considers to be dirty fuel.
Following the removal of fuel subsidies, the Tinubu government inaugurated the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative.
However, the adoption of CNG by Nigerians is currently being hampered by a lack of refuelling stations and the high cost of converting a petrol-powered vehicle to CNG.
