By Udeme Akpan, Energy Editor

The Chief Executive Officer, ND Western, Mr. Eberechukwu Oji, has identified infrastructure deficit and market inefficiencies as major problems affecting gas development in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

Speaking in an interview with Vanguard at the just-concluded African Oil Week in Cape Town, South Africa, he said: “It must be very clear to our policy/lawmakers that Nigeria is competing with other countries for limited funds critically needed to develop our huge gas reserves.

Hence our laws/ policies must be competitive, and our regulators must be collaborative i.e., enable investment as against competing with businesses for revenue generation.

“We appreciate and acknowledge the ongoing infrastructure expansion projects like the AKK, OB3, etc, and encourage the government to allow private sector-driven infrastructure expansion to increase efficiency and provide the needed financial and technical resources.

“The domestic market continues to suffer from market inefficiencies including regulated gas pricing, cash illiquidity leading to debt accumulation from the power sector, etc.

“We encourage the government to address the accumulated power sector debt and put in place a payment assurance mechanism that will prevent future build-up. The domestic market needs a more efficient pricing mechanism that will ensure voluntary gas supply to the market.”

On possible solutions, he said: “To address these issues, there is a need for a concerted effort from the government, industry stakeholders, and international institutions (Financiers) to support Africa in developing its gas as a transition fuel towards achieving the net-zero carbon emission agenda.

“To unlock and fully utilize gas as Nigeria’s transitional fuel to a cleaner fuel requires a comprehensive approach. There is a need to further incentivize gasrelated investment and domestic supply/utilization. The government needs to create an investor-friendly policy framework and partner with the international community for gas development project financing.

A lot of collaboration is needed by the Public, Private and International Organizations to achieve this goal.” Already, he noted that ND Western has made huge investments in the sector, adding that, “ND Western is a domestic market-focused company delivering about twentyfive per cent (25%) of the gas needed for thermal power generation in Nigeria, from our fields in OML3