OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Given the current realities, Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has emphasised the need to strengthen the Nigerian oil and gas industry for economic stability and growth.
Mr. Sylva made the call in his address at the digital session for the Nigerian Oil and Gas, NOG strategic outlook session held on Wednesday.
According to him, as part of steps to strengthen the industry, President Buhari is focused on cost cutting and efficiency measures that will enable growth and development.
He also listed other initiatives already flagged off in the course of the year.
Part of them he said, is the National Gas Expansion Programme, NGEP inaugurated in January. The National Gas Expansion Programme is a mechanism to boost utilisation of natural gas in the short and medium-term.
He explained that the initiative is also part of the Federal Government’s bid to key into the global shift from crude oil to gas.
“We have initiated efforts to deliver sustainable energy by improving gas availability and accessibility, boosting gas-based industrialization, and promoting economic diversification in our crude resources”, he said.
President Muhammadu had last week rolled out the autogas Initiative. The Autogas was constituted as a sub-committee under the NGEP to drive the adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG and Compressed Natural Gas, CNG as an alternative fuel for Nigerians. This, Mr. Sylva explained is an alternative fuel option that will afford Nigerians a cheaper, cleaner, and better choice of fuel.
“Cheaper than the price of PMS, cleaner for our environment, improving our carbon footprint and better for our automobile and generator engines”, he said.
With a proven gas reserve of over 200 Trillion Cubic Feet, TCF, the Minister said Nigeria has huge potentials to be on the path to becoming an industrialised nation with the right policies and regulations to expand the utilisation of her gas resources.
“It is important to note that this shift to gas underscores Mr President’s seriousness and determination in the development of Nigeria’s vast gas resources”.
“Let me emphasise that the Federal Government is committed to these programmes and will continue to encourage our partners in the private sector and international community to support the implementation of these policies, which will develop genuine partnerships between Nigerian and foreign companies”, he said.