The Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, says in five years, Nigeria will start exporting large amounts of gas to Portugal.
The NNPC CEO, who is on President Muhammadu’s delegation on a state visit to Portugal for the 2nd UN Ocean Conference, reportedly highlighted the age-long energy partnership between Nigeria and Portugal.
Nigeria has sold over a billion-dollar worth of natural gas to Portugal this year (2022) alone, stressing that Nigeria supplies 70% of energy imports to the European Nation.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari is leading a high-level Nigerian business delegation to the Nigeria-Portugal Business & Trade Forum.
“There are ample opportunities to grow energy supply to Portugal as Nigeria has invested in critical infrastructure to ensure domestic gas availability & increase gas supply to the International Market”, a tweet from Mallam Kyari as obtained from the NNPC verified Twitter handle, noted.
Some of the sectors being targeted by the government are oil and gas, agri-business, information and communication technology, manufacturing and processing, renewable, pharmaceuticals, and construction.
The event is also being attended by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; Nigeria’s Ambassador to Portugal, Alex Kefas; the Group General Manager NAPIMS Bala Wunti, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Emeka Offor.
Nigeria is pursuing an energy transition to promote economic growth and is gradually investing in gas to reduce carbon emissions whilst continuing to exploit hydrocarbon resources. Currently, natural gas is the energy transition fuel for Nigeria.
Nigeria is currently having six quadrillions BTU of energy production annually making it the second-highest in Africa.
The country also has a geographical vantage position with easy access to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans giving it unhindered access to the most critical global trade routes and markets.
Kyari told both Presidents that Nigeria is part of the sovereignty of energy security in Portugal, adding that as a matter of fact, the country is insulated from the current energy challenges in Europe because of the quantum of gas supply that is coming from Nigeria.
He said, “Nigeria provides 70 percent of Liquified Natural Gas to Portugal, we are part of the sovereignty of energy security in Portugal and as a matter of fact, the country is insulated from it in Europe because of the supply that is coming from Nigeria.
“We are working to put extensive infrastructure on the ground to ensure more supply to Europe and we are working with the European Union. We are on the Moroccan pipeline to ensure that we export to Europe and to ensure that in a very short time in no more than five years we will see a massive LNG supply from Nigeria into Portugal.”
Shortly before the exhibition, Kyari had told investors and other participants at the event that NNPC is the best partner for them to do business within the oil and gas sector.
“We are the best partners you can find, NNPC is the largest capitalized company in Africa, and we also supply 70 percent of LNG into Portugal. And that’s why we are practically isolated from the crisis of Ukraine today because their supply is coming from Nigeria.