About 213 gas blocks have been identified by the federal government as being available for investment.
The Niger Delta, Anambra, Benue Trough, Bida, Chad, Dahomey, and Sokoto were listed as the locations of the gas blocks in a document titled “Nigeria’s Cretaceous Basins: The Potentials for Gas” created by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
According to the report, 69 of the blocks were found in the Niger Delta basin, followed by 12 in Anambra, 41 in the Benue Trough, 17 in Bida, 40 in Chad, 6 in Dahomey, and 28 in Sokoto.
There are already 60 gas basins in the country that are covered by oil prospecting licences; 44 of them are in the Niger Delta, five are in Anambra, two are in the Benue Trough, six are in Chad, and three are in Dahomey.
115 gas wells have also already been allocated under Oil Mining Licences 112 for the Niger Delta, two for Anambra, and one for Dahomey.
The Federal Government, through the National Gas Expansion Programme, declared 2020 to 2030 as the decade of gas, and has identified gas as the country’s transitional fuel.
As part of Nigeria’s contribution to energy transition, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in 2021, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, pledged that the country would reach net zero by 2060.
According to The PUNCH, N834 trillion would be required for the federal government to achieve its net zero agenda.
“That is a tall one. Where will the money come from? That target is ambitious and aspirational but again, because we are looking at a long term thing; we must not totally dismiss it” the immediate past Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muda Yusuf, stated.
He added, “With what is happening globally, you can see that the pace of decarbonisation has slowed. Countries that are committed to a more aggressive push are going back to fossil fuels, looking for coal.
“I am not optimistic that raising such an amount will be easy. Then the commitment to the COP is also not too impressive and very weak. And if commitment is this low, how do you convince investors either in form of aid or whatever, to invest this kind of huge money. It’s going to be a tall order.”
According to the NUPRC, Nigeria’s cretaceous basins offer the country’s oil and gas industry a bright future and a way to decarbonize while maintaining energy security.
It stated that further exploration of the other cretaceous basins would deepen and realise the potential for Nigeria to triple its gas reserves by 2050.
Independent researcher and development practitioner and consultant on the DFID-funded Facility for Oil Sector Transformation, managed by the Oxford Policy Management, Dauda Garuba, said the management of Nigeria’s revenue from its natural resources should be topmost concern.
“Gas is touted as the transition mineral. Nigeria is richer in gas than oil. I see much more to be discovered. However, we should be more concerned about the management of earnings from this,” he said.