Converting Gas Resources into National Prosperity
Under the leadership of Minister Ekperikpe Ekpo, Nigeria is expanding gas production, infrastructure, domestic utilization, and regional connectivity to turn its reserves into industrial growth. Nigeria has long been one of the world’s major hydrocarbon producers, but its energy strategy is increasingly focused on natural gas. With more than 215 trillion cubic feet of proven […] The post Converting Gas Resources into National Prosperity appeared first on Time Africa.
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Under the leadership of Minister Ekperikpe Ekpo, Nigeria is expanding gas production, infrastructure, domestic utilization, and regional connectivity to turn its reserves into industrial growth.
Nigeria has long been one of the world’s major hydrocarbon producers, but its energy strategy is increasingly focused on natural gas. With more than 215 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, the largest in Africa, the country is seeking to translate them into reliable power, industrial capacity, employment, and economic value.
At the heart of this effort is the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR), responsible for formulating and implementing policies governing Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Its mandate extends across the petroleum value chain, creating an enabling environment for investment and maximizing the sector’s contribution to national development. For Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), the principle is straightforward: resources only acquire real value when developed and put to productive use. “Nigeria is a gas nation, but resources alone cannot push a country forward. We need to put policies in place,” he notes.
That approach underpins Nigeria’s Decade of Gas initiative, running from 2021 to 2030 and designed to accelerate gas development and utilization. The initiative seeks to establish gas as a foundation for power generation, manufacturing, transportation, clean cooking, and gas-based industries, while strengthening Nigeria’s export capabilities. The emphasis is on creating the domestic demand and industrial capacity required to use it.
Production is already rising. Ekpo says daily gas output has increased from around 6.8 billion cubic feet when the current administration took office to approximately 7.8 billion cubic feet today. The longer-term objective is 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, a target the government is pursuing alongside NNPC Limited, regulators, and private investors. Meanwhile, crude oil production has increased from about one million barrels per day in 2023 to over 1.8 million barrels per day today, while active drilling rigs have risen from 14 to more than 60. “We are on track. Under the Decade of Gas initiative, in collaboration with the NNPC, the regulators, and, of course, investors, we are making sure that we meet the 10 billion cubic feet per day target to support domestic utilization as well as exports,” Ekpo says.
“We need to work toward developing the continent to be at par with the world.”
Connecting Resources with Industry
Higher production depends on infrastructure capable of getting gas to industries and consumers. One milestone is the Obiafu- Obrikom-Oben (OB3) Gas Pipeline, designed to strengthen connectivity between Nigeria’s eastern and western gas networks. Attention is also focused on the Ajaokuta- Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline, intended to carry gas northward and expected to be completed in 2027, supporting industrial and power generation projects. The Ministry also points to expanded gas-processing facilities and the NLNG Train 7 project, expected to raise LNG production capacity from 22 million to 30 million metric tons per year. These pipelines are intended to do more than move gas. “The AKK pipeline is a game changer that will transport gas from the southern part of the country, where it is produced, to the northern part,” explains Ekpo. The objective is an interconnected gas economy supporting fertilizers, petrochemicals, methanol, manufacturing, and transportation, while expanding access to electricity and cleaner cooking. Extending supply could also allow industries to locate closer to markets and raw materials.
Under the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, the government is seeking to de-risk private investment in infrastructure required to bring gas closer to businesses and consumers. According to the Minister, around 30 companies have been selected following screening by transaction advisers and have gained access to funding for projects spanning CNG, LNG, and other midstream and downstream activities.
This complements the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative and National Clean Cooking Program, which seek to expand domestic utilization, reduce transportation costs, and improve access to cleaner energy. Nigeria is also targeting LPG adoption by five million households by 2030. These programs place domestic gas use within President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Reforming the Investment Environment
Building a gas-powered economy requires significant capital, making domestic and foreign investment central to the Ministry’s strategy. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), passed in 2021, reshaped the governance of Nigeria’s petroleum industry, establishing a new regulatory structure for the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors and shifting the Ministry’s role toward policy formulation and oversight.
Under the current administration, the PIA has been complemented by presidential Executive Orders intended to improve regulatory certainty, introduce targeted fiscal incentives, and streamline contracting processes. “For investors, when they have a conducive environment, stable regulation, and incentives like tax rebates, all those things will encourage them to come in,” Ekpo explains. “Everything is done in such a way that Nigeria turns out to be a destination for investment.”
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), working with the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), has also engaged PwC to undertake a global benchmarking study aimed at simplifying the multiple taxes, levies, and statutory charges affecting the industry. The initiative forms part of efforts to improve competitiveness. For capital- intensive gas projects with long development timelines, predictability around costs, approvals, and regulation is particularly important.
“The real value of our gas resources is not in reserves alone, but in their ability to translate into reliable energy, industrial growth, employment, and foreign-exchange earnings.”
For Nigeria, the larger objective is to capture more value from its resources rather than rely primarily on crude oil exports. Gas provides a direct link between resource development and electricity, manufacturing, transportation, and other productive activities. “The real value of our gas resources is not in reserves alone, but in their ability to translate into power, employment, foreign-exchange earnings, and reliable energy,” Ekpo emphasizes.
A Tool for Regional Integration
Nigeria’s gas ambitions extend beyond its borders. With an estimated 600 million Africans still lacking access to electricity, cross-border infrastructure is being viewed as a means of supporting industrial development and economic integration alongside energy trade.
Among the most ambitious initiatives is the Nigeria–Morocco gas pipeline project, envisioned to connect Nigerian gas with countries along Africa’s Atlantic coast before reaching Morocco. Other regional projects include the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, Nigeria–Equatorial Guinea Gas Pipeline, and continued development of the West African Gas Pipeline network. For Ekpo, the priority of the Nigeria– Morocco project is first and foremost African. “Primarily, the project needs to supply gas to the West African sub-region that is within that coastal line and up to Morocco,” he explains. “Exporting gas to the EU is a secondary target because, when we look at the African continent, over 600 million citizens are lacking access to electricity. We need to work toward developing the continent to be at par with the world.”
Greater connectivity could allow Nigerian gas to support power generation, industrialization, fertilizer production, CNG transportation, and employment across neighboring economies while creating additional markets for domestic producers. The potential value lies in both the economic activity created along the route and the gas delivered. “It is a project that needs to be done to showcase Nigeria as a gas nation while contributing our own quota to global energy security,” Ekpo adds.
Nigeria’s international profile is also growing through its presidency of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in 2026 and its admission as an Association Country of the International Energy Agency. The Ministry sees both developments as signs of Nigeria’s increasing role in global energy discussions.
Gas and a Pragmatic Energy Transition
Nigeria is pursuing these ambitions as energy-producing countries weigh economic development and energy access against the need to decarbonize. Concerns over energy security have reinforced the role of oil and gas within the global energy mix. Nigeria intends to increase production while harnessing its hydrocarbon resources to support economic growth and a more sustainable energy future.
Natural gas sits at the center of what the government describes as a pragmatic and inclusive energy transition. The Ministry regards it as both a transition fuel and an industrial feedstock with lower emissions than more carbon-intensive fuels. For Nigeria, that means using gas to expand energy access and industry while pursuing lower emissions. It also means confronting gas flaring in the Niger Delta. “Sustainability is a priority of the present administration,to safeguard the environment and provide a conducive environment for those people living within the Niger Delta,” Ekpo says. Through the PIA, the NUPRC has been empowered to advance flare commercialization, allowing captured gas that would otherwise be wasted to be converted into economically useful products.
The Ministry is also strengthening international cooperation on methane emissions reduction, including a 2026 agreement with the International Energy Agency covering methane, clean cooking, gas infrastructure, technical capacity, and data sharing. Reducing waste and increasing domestic gas use are therefore complementary economic and environmental objectives. “Every molecule of gas expended should be used for the good of the country,” Ekpo says, pointing to operators that have taken steps to eliminate routine flaring from individual facilities. “We continue through NUPRC, the regulator, to make sure that gas flaring is a thing of the past.”
Recent divestments involving Shell, ExxonMobil, and ENI have reshaped the upstream landscape, with indigenous operators now accounting for more than 60% of Nigeria’s daily crude oil production. At the same time, International Oil Companies are redirecting investment toward deep offshore operations, opening opportunities for reserve growth and increased production.
Turning Resources into Prosperity
The challenge is to ensure rising production is matched by infrastructure, investment, and demand. That requires connecting producing regions with industries, creating gas markets, maintaining regulatory certainty, and expanding export capacity without losing sight of domestic and African energy needs. Gas development must translate into improved living standards, stronger industries, and greater economic opportunity. With its vast reserves, expanding infrastructure, growing domestic market, and strategic position between West African economies and international energy routes, Nigeria has the foundations for a much larger gas economy.
The task is to turn those advantages into projects, investment, and economic activity. “We have put measures in place to encourage investors to come into the country and invest in our rich gas resources. Nigeria is a gas nation,” Ekpo says. For Nigeria, the test will be whether that abundance can deliver more power, stronger industries, and greater prosperity.
Produced independently of the TIME Africa newsroom by Penresa.
The post Converting Gas Resources into National Prosperity appeared first on Time Africa.
