Nigeria's Gas Reserve to Last Another 50 Years Despite Increase in Consumption Volume

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has stated that Nigeria's current proven gas reserve which stands at 206 trillion cubic feet (tcf) would last another 50 years even if the current seven billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) consumption volume was doubled.

The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, disclosed this yesterday in Lagos, while delivering a paper titled: "Nigeria in the Unfolding Integration of African Market: The Oil and Gas Sector Perspective," at the ninth anniversary of Realnews Magazine.

Wabote spoke just as the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited stated that energy would be definitely required to power Africa's economic development as being pursued though the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA).

The NCDMB boss also warned that the current pressure by Europe and industrialised nations for banks to stop financing oil and gas projects in the spirit of energy transition may escalate to the point where world technological companies would be pressured to halt the manufacturing of technological tools used for oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

He said in consideration of the shared volume of Nigeria's gas reserve, the country, as being said, is a gas province with pockets of oil deposits.

"It is estimated that even if the current gas consumption level in Nigeria is doubled (we are told that we consume about seven billion standard cubic feet of gas per day). Even if you double that, the gas reserve will still last for another 50 years in Nigeria.

"Now, there is also a discussion as to 206tcf as being the proven gas reserves and in some circles, the unproven gas reserves totalled 600tcf of gas. It is also a well-known fact that Nigeria is highly dependent on revenues from the oil and gas industry to power its economy," Wabote said.

He said Africa oil map revealed a rapid spread of the discovery of hydrocarbon, especially in the last two decades, pointing out that between 2005 and 2015 alone, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Liberia, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania became new additions to the league of countries with hydrocarbon resources.

Stating that Africa is particularly sitting in oil and gas reserves, Wabote said in 2021 alone, Namibia announced discovery of 120 billion barrels of oil comparable to the Beaumont basin in Texas, United States of America.