German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz has expressed his country’s interest in investing in natural gas in Nigeria.
He said this during his October 29 visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to Scholz, aside from critical minerals, Germany is interested in investing in Nigeria’s natural gas sector. However, certain factors will need to be put in place such as gas pricing.
He said:
- “If we are successful, if there is a better chance of exporting the produced gas, it is then the question for German companies to do their private business.
- “This will also have an impact on the global gas price, if more states offered gas on the global market, prices would decrease. It is important to use the capacities where they are, and that we diversify production all over the globe.”
Meanwhile, President Tinubu told Scholz that Nigeria is ready to encourage investments in gas pipelines.
Recall that during the G-20 summit in India in September 2023, Tinubu told potential and existing investors that he was ready to break all bottlenecks to ease investments in Nigeria.
Insights on the link between Nigeria’s gas and the EU
It is also important to note that the European Union is on the lookout for gas imports into the countries in the EU. Nairametrics has previously reported that the European Union has confirmed its dedication to enhancing the intake of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Nigeria in the near to mid-term.
Kadri Samson, the EU Commissioner for Energy in Nigeria, stated this during her recent visit to the NLNG Bonny Plant in Rivers State.
While at the facility, she praised Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited for its role as a major LNG provider on the continent and affirmed the EU’s commitment to acquiring additional LNG from Nigeria.
She emphasized that the EU is fast-tracking its energy transition, but it also needs to strengthen its connections with dependable LNG partners such as Nigeria in the short run.
This will assist them in filling some of the gap created by former Russian imports while they steadily shift away from fossil fuels.
According to Samson, Nigeria has demonstrated its reliability as a partner. Note that in 2022, 9.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of LNG was exported from Nigeria to the EU.
However, she noted that there is a potential to accomplish more in the period between now and 2027.
What you should know
In its October 2023 Global Gas Report, the International Gas Union (IGU) noted that Qatar, Russia and Nigeria are the three next dominant liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters to Europe after the United States of America.
This one does not concern us as citizen’s but would benefit our big daddy’s in power.