Mrs Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to the President on Energy, said reforms introduced by the President Bola Tinubu administration to improve the viability of the gas-to-power value chain had started yielding results.
Verheijen said this at a luncheon organised as part of the inaugural US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, hosted by the U.S. State Department, in Washington, DC, on Sept. 12.
Verheijen cited the Final Investment Decision (FID) on a new 550 million dollar upstream gas project as a clear example, in a statement on Tuesday by Morenike Adewunmi, Stakeholder Manger, office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy.
She said when operational, the gas project was expected to deliver 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
She said the Tinubu administration introduced reforms to improve cash flow in electricity distribution through smart metering, payment of outstanding debts owed investors and to reduce carbon emissions from gas production.
To support the reform efforts, she said the President issued five executive orders to provide fiscal incentives for investment and reduce the cost and time of finalising and implementing contracts to develop and expand gas infrastructure.
She stated that the directives were aimed at immediately unlocking up to 2.5 billion dollars in new oil and gas investments in the country.
Verheijen affirmed her optimism about the bright prospects for Nigeria’s energy sector, especially with the renewed focus on gas as a transition fuel in the race to meet the country’s commitments to the Paris climate agreement.
“We see resilient demand for gas through the energy transition as it is a readily available, cost-effective backup to renewables while cutting emissions by half immediately,” she said.
Verheijen acknowledged the support of technical partners like the U.S. government, the World Bank and the African Development Bank towards Nigeria’s goals to expand electricity access and reliability through grid and off-grid solutions.
Verheijen said the goal of the US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue was to jointly proffer solutions to close the energy access gap for close to 100 million Nigerians who still lacked reliable power.
“We want existing and potential partners to better understand our areas of priority so that our collaboration can be better targeted, and with tangible outcomes,” she said.
The Dialogue was established in June 2023 to create a platform for the U.S. and Nigerian governments and private sector to deepen bilateral cooperation to advance the implementation of shared energy and climate action ambitions.
Mr Geoffrey Pyatt, Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR), said the inaugural US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue set the stage for strengthened energy collaboration between the U.S. and Nigeria.
“Together, we’re advancing shared energy security, decarbonisation, and economic growth goals,” said Pyatt.
The Nigerian delegation to the US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, which took place from Sept. 11 to 12, 2024 was led by Mr Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
Officials from the Ministry of Power, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NNPC Ltd., were part of the delegation.
The U.S. delegation included representatives from the Bureau of African Affairs, USAID, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Export-Import Bank (EXIM).
The Dialogue saw the inauguration of a new Nigeria-focused initiative, the Clean Energy Alliance of Nigeria (CLEAN), by the U.S. State Department, to mobilise stakeholders to support and promote investment in clean energy in Nigeria.