On Monday, the Federal Government reported that the expected performance of Nigeria’s domestic gas supply requirement has increased by 14.14 percent to 64.8 percent in 2021.
It stated that this was in comparison to the 50.66% obtained in 2020, and that efforts were being strengthened to increase the country’s gas supply volumes in 2022.
Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, made the announcement during the 2023 Domestic Gas Demand Requirements workshop in Abuja. He said that Nigeria’s gas demand will rise by 5.9 percent to 250 million standard cubic feet per day in 2022.
Ahmed said, “As at end of September 2021, the estimated performance of the domestic gas supply obligation was 64.8 per cent compared to 50.66 per cent achieved in 2020, when comparing annual total domestic supply obligation allocation to the actual daily supply met.
“The increased performance of 14 per cent in the preceding domestic gas year can be majorly attributed to the concerted efforts implemented by the regulator and all our stakeholders towards enhancing the performance of the market.”
Despite the improved performance in 2021, the NMDPRA chief acknowledged that the domestic gas market has continued to face considerable problems.
He described the problems, which included infrastructure capacity restrictions, payment assurance, and long-standing legacy debts of gas provided to the power industry, as well as poor contract integrity performance. Among the many problems are limits on the evacuation of generated electricity and minimal investment flows into the sector..
Ahmed, on the other hand, told workshop attendees that all essential preparations had been done to guarantee that this year’s Domestic Gas Demand Requirement was organized in a safe, productive, and effective manner. He stated that creating a DGDR was a major milestone in the execution of the essential requirements of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, which were outlined for the supply of wholesale marketable natural gas for the domestic gas market.
Jennis Anyanwu, Manager, Gas Production and Flare Monitoring, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, expressed hope that Nigeria will fulfill the 12.2 billion standard cubic feet of gas objective established by the Federal Government’s Decade of Gas project.
He said, “Certainly, Nigeria can meet the deadlines set for the Decade of Gas. There is a high-powered political commitment to ensure that this happens.
