Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari claimed on Thursday that his country was ready to fill a natural gas supply gap in Europe recently left by Russia amid its war with Ukraine, the Nigerian online newspaper Daily Trust reported.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigeria is ready to fill the natural gas gaps in Europe predicated by the current Russian-Ukrainian war,” the Daily Trust reported on June 30.
Buhari made the remarks during a speech on Thursday concerning “areas of cooperation between Nigeria and Portugal” at the Presidential Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, according to the Nigerian news outlet Channels TV. The Nigerian leader is visiting Lisbon this week at the invitation of Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“On oil and gas, President Buhari said with the current Russian-Ukraine war, increased cooperation in oil and gas between the two countries [Nigeria and Portugal] has become vital to avoid crisis in the demand and supply chain, even as Nigeria is already a major supplier of gas to Portugal,” Channels TV reported.
Nigeria supplies 70 percent of Portugal’s energy imports, according to Nigerian National Petroleum Company CEO Mele Kyari.
“Nigeria has sold more than $1 billion of natural gas to Portugal this year,” Kyari, who runs the Nigerian state-owned petroleum company, wrote on his Facebook page on July 1 as reported by Dow Jones Newswires.
The news outlet detailed Nigeria’s recent efforts to expand its European natural gas exports beyond Portugal, writing:
Nigeria has proven gas reserves of 208.62 trillion cubic feet as of Jan. 1. It is on track to increase the reserves volume to 220 tcf in less than 10 years and 250 tcf thereafter, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said.
Gbenga Komolafe, NUPRC chief executive, said “the commission is taking steps to develop and expand Nigeria’s huge gas resources as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has disrupted global gas demand-supply chain.”
Five European Union ambassadors in April visited the NNPC Ltd. in Abuja and stressed Europe was interested in strengthening cooperation with Nigeria, particularly for increased supplies of liquefied natural gas.
Nigeria is an energy-rich nation that contains Africa’s second-largest crude oil reserves after Libya. Like many geographic regions with abundant crude oil reserves, Nigeria also boasts of associated natural gas deposits. Nigeria was Africa’s top crude oil producer in 2021 and is currently a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
In spite of its access to immense natural wealth, Nigeria’s federal government regularly fails to provide sufficient fuel to its own people. The nation has suffered from widespread blackouts due to regular failures of its state grid for years and experienced power outages across major cities — including the federal capital of Abuja — as recently as mid-June.
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