Agip, Oando To Unlock 21trn Cubic Feet Of Gas

The Chief Operating Officer, Oando Energy Resources, Dr. Ainojie Irune, has said the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Joint Venture, of which Oando Plc is a part of, will be responsible for unlocking almost 50 per cent of the 42 trillion cubic feet that the ‘Seven Critical Gas Development Projects’ aims to deliver by 2020.

According to a statement on Wednesday, Oando, NAOC, Shell Petroleum Development Company, and other oil companies, in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, have signed an agreement to implement gas projects worth $3.7bn.

The 7CGDP was described as an integral part of the gas development strategy designed by the NNPC to leverage the full potential of gas to meet the target of generating at least 15,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020.

The agreement, according to the statement, includes the development of the 4.3 trillion cubic feet Assa North/Ohaji South field, the development of the 6.4 Tcf Unitised Gas fields and the development of 7Tcf Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation’s Oil Mining Leases 26, 30 and 42.

Irune said, “We all know that oil is a key contributor to the economy, but we must also understand the extremely important role that gas has to play. When you have a developing country like Nigeria, gas plays a critical role in moving it from where it is today to a first-world country.

“Diesel is currently what most of our manufacturing companies use; the utilization of gas will lead to cost reduction and most importantly, it will directly impact country’s Gross Domestic Product.”

In a presentation at the event, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, was quoted as saying that the projects would signal the beginning of the process of closing the demand-supply gap in the domestic gas market.

He explained that the domestic gas demand was growing at an exponential rate, outpacing the current gas supply development plan.