Gas will solve Nigeria’s energy challenge, says Seplat

SEPLAT Energy Plc has said gas development is a clear solution to Nigeria’s immediate energy challenge and remains a longer-term transition fuel.

 The Director of New Energy at Seplat, Mr Effiong Okon, said this while delivering a speech during the Gas Stakeholders Conversation panel session at the just-concluded 2024 Nigeria International Energy Summit held in Abuja.

“Increasing the supply of reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy is Nigeria’s greatest challenge; but gas is the logical transition fuel, we need to realise this,” Okon said.

He linked gas development to power, liquefied natural gas export, compressed natural gas production, fertiliser production, liquefied petroleum gas production, building materials production, among others.

He added: “Today, we have acute housing and infrastructure shortage, but no commercially viable substitute for the production of building materials like cement, glass, steel; about 90,000 deaths are recorded per year due to biomass cooking; and rising population presents an urgent need to improve agricultural production. We can fund all of the above with gas.

“We can also reduce reliance on petrol, increase and decarbonise domestic transport fuel if we leverage on gas. Of course, these would in turn strengthen our focus on sustainability.”

Okon stressed that the Nigerian energy industry must focus on end-to-end solutions to unlock the full value of Nigeria’s gas, noting that exploration, production, gas processing, and delivery of gas to the last mile remained germane to maximising the dividends of the resource.

For a sustainable gas development programme in Nigeria, the Seplat new energy director emphasised the need for bankability and access to low-cost capital; the use of technology, the Internet of Things, and smart metering to reduce aggregate technical commercial and collection losses.

He suggested technology-enabled revenue delivery opportunities to aid fund collection.

At the NIES 2024, Seplat Energy won the award of the Gas Infrastructure Project of the Year, received by Okon on behalf of the company.