Sylva commends LNG, Daris Tele on decade of oil and gas documentary

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has applauded the management of Daris Tele Limited under the leadership of Tokunbo Olateru-Olagbegi for the commitment and efforts put into making the documentary on Nigeria’s decades of oil and gas production.

The minister who spoke at the launch of the documentary: ‘The Nigerian Gas Journey… Past, Present and Future’, recalled that the National Gas Policy approved by the federal government in 2017 foresees Nigeria as an attractive gas-based industrial nation, centred on satisfying local gas demand requirements, and developing a significant presence in international markets.

He disclosed that the documentary by Daris Tele, which was put together through the assistance and support of the Nigerian LNG captured the story from all angles of the industry insisting that it was a wise decision “in getting this documentary and brochure produced on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in line with FG’s declaration of the “The Decade of Gas”.

The policy according to Sylva seeks to define and set the framework necessary to move Nigeria from being a crude oil export-based economy to becoming an attractive, oil and gas-based industrial economy.

The Minister of State, who spoke through his Technical Adviser on Gas Business and Policy Implementation, Justice Opelamina Derefaka, said the FG through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR) was profound, working on the policy goals, strategies and an implementation plan for establishing a framework that would drive the institutional, legal, regulatory and commercial reforms necessary for attracting investment into the gas sector and this is with a view to achieving what the abundant gas resources could offer as a strong option for Nigeria’s economy and attracting the right kind of investment and opening the economy for gas-related business.

As part of the FG’s strategy to reposition the oil and gas industry, the Ministry commenced the implementation of carefully conceived initiatives to foster efficiency and attract investments along the gas value chain as embedded in FG’s policy aspirations for the gas sector and encapsulated in the National Gas Policy (2017) and indeed aligning with the Ministry’s 2019-2023 nine priority project deliverables vis-à-vis clusters for the gas resource.

“Others are rapid growth of the LPG/CNG/LNG market; development of supporting infrastructure, investment, and domestic growth. It also includes the promotion of natural gas usage in Nigeria thereby creating alternative fuel choices for Nigerians. It is expected that this will stimulate economic growth, further improve our energy mix, drive investments, and provide jobs in Nigeria,” the minister stressed.

To achieve the foregoing, Minister in January 2020 inaugurated the FG’s flagship programme tagged The National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) as the mechanism to boost domestic utilisation of natural gas in Nigeria in the short and medium-term.

National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) is a program put in place by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources in furtherance of the domestic gas expansion programme of the current administration. It is designed to reinforce and expand domestic gas supply and stimulate demand in the country through the effective and efficient mobilisation and utilisation of all available assets, resources, and infrastructure in the country.

The NGEP offers a unique opportunity in unlocking all gas molecules as a favourable combination of the solution to a mirage of issues in the country ranging from energy poverty being a stark reality for millions of Nigerians every day, how carbon-intensive energy usage is damaging our environment and potentially changing our climate, how our cities are becoming unbearable due to outdoor pollution.