The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has officially launched its “Gas Master Plan 2026,” a high-stakes blueprint requiring $22 billion in fresh investments to revolutionize the nation’s midstream infrastructure.
Unveiled at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, the plan aims to bridge the “energy paradox” where Nigeria holds Africa’s largest proven gas reserves of 210 trillion cubic feet but remains only 16th in global production. By prioritizing pipeline expansion and processing hubs, the NNPC intends to transition the economy from oil-dependency to a gas-driven industrial powerhouse.
Central to this roadmap is the completion of critical “backbone” projects, specifically the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) and the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) pipelines. As of February 2026, the AKK project has reached a major milestone with 100% of its mainline welding completed, while sections of the OB3 pipeline are already flowing approximately 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
These links are vital for connecting southern supply hubs to northern industrial clusters, ensuring that gas reaches power plants and factories that have long suffered from energy shortages.
The 2026 Master Plan sets aggressive production targets, aiming to ramp up national output to 10 billion standard cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by 2027 and 12 bcf/d by 2030. Achieving these figures is critical to preventing a projected supply shortfall in the power sector, which is expected to remain the primary driver of domestic gas demand.
To attract the necessary capital, the NNPC is advocating for a “willing buyer-willing seller” pricing model, moving away from legacy regulated prices that have historically discouraged private investment in the sector.
Beyond industrial use, the plan also emphasizes the “Decade of Gas” initiative, promoting Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for clean cooking and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transportation. ]
By integrating 23 identified gas hubs into a coordinated network, the NNPC hopes to increase gas commercialization from the current 60% to over 80% by 2030. This strategic shift is designed to not only fuel domestic growth but also position Nigeria as a reliable global energy player in the transition toward lower-carbon fuels.
 has officially launched its "Gas Master Plan 2026," a high-stakes blueprint requiring $22 billion in fresh investments to revolutionize the nation’s midstream infrastructure.){kind=link}