By Sebastine Obasi, Houston, Texas

Now is the time to invest in Nigeria’s gas sub-sector, to ameliorate the effect of the drop in crude oil prices, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, told foreign investors.

NNPC’s Group Managing Director, GMD, Dr. Joseph Dawha, made the call at the panel session by Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN, at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, in Houston, Texas.

He said with its immense gas potential, Nigeria “needs not be and must not be a victim of price drop. We should position to benefit from it.”

Represented by Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, Dr. David Ige, Dawha said for the gas sub-sector to benefit from the drive, industry players must brace up for challenges ahead.

He added: “Nigeria’s gas sector has seen tremendous focus in the last few years. We have grown capacity at a pace of 18-20 percent with supply now at about two billion cubic feet of gas per day in the domestic market from a humble start of about 300 million a few years ago.”

He said based on projected growth demand anchored on growing industrial requirements, the sub-sector may need to grow further to some six billion cubic feet of gas per day.

He noted that despite the annual investment of millions of dollars in the last four years in gas supply and infrastructure, there was need for significant addition to infrastructure and supply development.