Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources has said that the nation’s gas reserves rose to 62 million barrels in 2020.
The Director, DPR, Auwalu Sarki, said this in a chat with newsmen on Monday at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja.
He explained that gas reserves to the country as at 2005 was less than 10 million barrels.
Sarki said that indigenous oil and gas companies were now contributing as much as 33 per cent to the country’s crude oil reserves and about 30 per cent to its gas reserves.
He also said that Nigeria’s proven gas deposit increased to 206.53 trillion cubic feet.
He attributed the growth to recent efforts made on gas exploration in the country, especially the Decade of Gas Initiative.
“Nigeria attained the target of 200tcf of natural gas reserves by the Reserve Declaration as at January 1, 2019, before the 2020 target. Thereafter, the government set a target to attain a Reserve Position of 202tcf by 2030.”
Sarki noted that independent companies were driving value addition to gas, adding that acquisition of divested assets, as well as accelerated appraisal and development efforts, were other driving factors.
The DPR helmsman added that the country was already benefiting from the deliberate national efforts to boost indigenous participation in the sector.
Also, the Chairman of Nigerian Gas Association and Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Gas, Ed Ubong, said gas only accounts for five per cent of Africa’s energy mix.
“Nigeria is sitting on a huge resource base of gas, but how much gas are we producing? We are a top 10 country when we talk of what we have; but when you talk of what we are actually producing, we begin to sit back. We are in the top 20 range,” he said.
