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THE Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, has said that Nigeria is on track to becoming the world‘s second fastest liquefied natural gas supplier in the world after Qatar.

He stated that the Nigerian LNG project had expanded to six trains since the first train came into operation in 1999, adding that the seventh train was awaiting Final Investment Decision. Other projects like Brass, Olokola and other third party LNG projects were also awaiting FID.

“Nigerian LNG has a total installed capacity of 22 million metric tonnes of LNG per annum. In addition to the Nigerian LNG, other LNG projects such as the Brass, Olokola and other third party LNG plants are awaiting final investment decision, which is dependent on resolution of gas supply issues. The Brass and OKLNG facilities when completed, will add more than over 30 million metric tonnes of additional LNG capacity for export,” he stressed.

Egbogah, who was speaking on Friday at the 2009 Oloibiri Lecture of the Society of Petroleum Engineers on ”Nigerian Gas in the new economic landscape,” added: ” Nigeria is, therefore on track to becoming the world‘s second fastest growing LNG supplier in the world, next to Qatar.”

According to him, on a regional front, Nigeria was well positioned and ready to supply gas to the West African sub-region.

”The West African Gas Pipeline project, which was conceived with the objective of delivering Nigerian gas to the West African sub-region has been completed. The over 550 kilometre- pipeline is now ready to deliver gas to Ghana, Togo, and Benin. At full capacity, the pipeline will deliver up to 470 million standard cubic feet per day. Initial demand is about 200 million cubic feet per day. However, there is already a signal of growing demand in the region in the order of about 600 million cubic feet per day. The pipeline could be extended beyond Ghana to Cote D‘Ivoire and beyond as soon as market opportunities develop.”

He further stated that in addition, a 4,400 kilometre Trans-Saharan gas pipeline project, which was proposed to take gas through North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea and then to Europe is also envisioned with a potential for two billion cubic feet per day.

Egbogah said, ”The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, which originates from Calabar to Ajaokuta, Kano and through North Africa to Europe is particularly a very strategic project for Nigeria. Apart from providing a viable alternative source of gas supply to Europe besides the supply from the Russian Federation, it provides an opportunity for the diversification of the export route for marketing Nigeria‘s natural gas resources besides LNG export, and for the integration of the economies of the sub-region in line with the objectives of NEPAD and African Union.

He added: ”The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project and the other projects to supply regional markets therefore have the potential to confirm Nigeria‘s position and economic leadership in Africa and at the same time earn us more respect in the comity of nations.”

Egbogah said the Nigerian domestic gas market was today witnessing one of the most significant transformations from a very low level of utilisation of about 500 million cubic feet per day a few years back in 2000; the domestic market is expected to see an unprecedented growth in utilisation.

He said, “Un-risked demand is as high as 10bcf/d by 2015. This translates to a compound annual growth rate of about 22 per cent, which is phenomenal when compared to the forecast global growth rate of about two per cent.

Let us look at the drivers for this growth. First of all, the rising gas prices in the Western countries are resulting in a relocation of gas-based industries to low gas priced regions such as Nigeria. As a result, we see an increasing proposal from investors in fertiliser, methanol and Gas-to-liquids plants to Nigeria.”

He added, “This is fuelling about 30 per cent of the growth in the Nigerian domestic market. Another crucial driver is the power sector reforms. From a modest consumption of about 500 million cubic feet per day currently, the Nigerian power sector is forecast to grow its demand for gas to well over three billion cubic feet per day by the end of 2010. In addition, industrial consumers such as the manufacturing sector are also expanding their capacities and increasing demand significantly. This is contributing about 10 per cent of the demand growth.”