Mele Kyari: NNPC is working to build pipelines for gas delivery to Europe

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it is working on building a network pipeline infrastructure that would deliver gas from Nigeria to Europe.

Mele Kyari, group managing director, NNPC, said this during his speech at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, held in Dubai. 

The forum is an international gathering of government, industry, and thought leaders to set the energy agenda for the year.

Kyari said Nigeria was shifting away from dirtier fuel to cleaner alternatives, adding that gas was the choice transition fuel. 

“What we are doing is some kind of replacement such that we move from the dirtier fuel to cleaner fuel which is gas,” Kyari said. 

“And what we had to do is to build the enormous gas infrastructure required to ensure that there is sufficient supply of gas into the domestic market and provide some for the international market.

“And more than that, within the West African context, you will see that energy inefficiency and poverty that you see in Nigeria is also in many West African countries around us.

“Therefore, we are trying to see how we can build a network of pipeline infrastructure that will deliver gas and potentially jump into Europe through Morocco or Algeria.”

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, had told a delegation from the European Union (EU) that Nigeria was ready to offer up its services as an alternative gas supplier to Europe.

The minister’s call came on the heels of the festering war between Ukraine and Russia, which threatened gas supply to European countries.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had said the country’s proven natural gas reserves stood at 209.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) as of January 1, 2022.