Victor Ezeja
AdminThe Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari says the NNPCL is creating a regional gas pipeline network to supply natural gas across Africa.
He stated this while speaking at a Regional CEO Panel organised by McKinsey & Company at the COP28 Conference, in Dubai, on Monday. During his presentation, Kyari stated that Africa needs “a just, differentiated transition” to enable it to harness its resources for today for the benefit of its future generations.
According to him, the world must understand Africa’s peculiarities in addressing the effects of climate change on energy businesses.
Kyari was quoted in a statement signed by Olufemi Soneye, NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, as asserting that the company will play a major role in boosting Africa’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply to the foreign market.
He also highlighted that with abundant natural gas reserves of 206 trillion cubic feet (tcf) that have the potential to rise to 600 tcf, Nigeria is currently utilising gas to drive its journey towards energy transition.
Kyari stated further that the NNPCL is currently eliminating gas flares in almost all its gas projects. The idea behind the move is to deploy such gas towards developing power plants nationwide, which will boost nationwide electricity supply, create employment opportunities, and trigger the nation’s industrial and economic development.
It is important to note that under Nigeria’s Decade of Gas initiative, the country aims to transform into a gas-based economy through power generation, automobile use, industrial use and clean cooking.
Speaking on Africa’s energy transition, the NNPCL boss said: “I have always advocated for a differentiated and just energy transition. In Africa, we have different circumstances compared to other places in the world.
“In Africa today, 75 per cent of our population doesn’t have access to electricity, leaving us with biomass as a key energy source. The world needs to recognise that the most practicable thing today is to substitute what we have in the short term to close the energy gap for our rising population.”
With Nigeria forecasted to be among the global top 10 economies by 2035 and 3rd in terms of the global population by the same year, Kyari said the energy poverty question must be discussed as nations unite to achieve net zero by 2050.
He also said that to demonstrate NNPCL’s commitment to a net-zero future by 2025, the Company recently signed up as a participant in the United Nations Global Compact in New York, becoming the first state-owned oil company to join the global initiative.
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