Nigeria has earned over $1 billion from the sale of natural gas to Portugal in 2022 alone.
Group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd, Mele Kyari said this yesterday when President Muhammadu Buhari led a high-level Nigerian business delegation to the Nigeria-Portugal Business & Trade Forum on the sidelines of the 2nd UN Ocean Conference in Portugal
Kyari also said that Nigeria will in the next five years begin the massive exports of Liquified Natural Gas to Portugal and other European countries.
President Buhari and the President of Portugal, Marcelo Sousa led other top officials of both countries to a visit to the NNPC exhibition centre.
The visit was made at the sidelines of Nigeria-Portugal Business Forum which is being organised as part of measures to unlock fresh investments in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Some of the sectors being targeted by the government are oil and gas, agro business, information and communication technology, manufacturing and processing, renewable, pharmaceuticals and construction.
The event is also being attended by the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; Nigeria’s Ambassador to Portugal, Alex Kefas; the group general manager, NAPIMS Bala Wunti, the executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Emeka Offor.
Nigeria is pursuing energy transition in order to promote economic growth and is gradually investing in gas so as to reduce carbon emissions whilst continuing to exploit hydrocarbon resources.
Currently, natural gas is the energy transition fuel for Nigeria. Nigeria is currently having six quadrillion BTU of energy production annually making it the second highest in Africa.
The country also has a geographical vintage position with easy access to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean giving it unhindered access to the most critical global trade routes and markets.
Kyari told both presidents that Nigeria is part of the sovereignty of energy security in Portugal, adding that as a matter of fact, the country is insulated from the current energy challenges in Europe because of the quantum of gas supply that is coming from Nigeria.
He said, “Nigeria provides 70 per cent of Liquified Natural Gas to Portugal, we are part of the sovereignty of energy security in Portugal and as a matter of fact, the country is insulated from it in Europe because of the supply that is coming from Nigeria.
“We are working to put extensive infrastructure on ground to ensure more supply to Europe and we are working with the European Union. We are on the Moroccan pipeline to ensure that we export to Europe and to ensure that in a very short time in no more than five years we will see massive of LNG supply from Nigeria into Portugal.”
Shortly before the exhibition, Kyari had told investors and other participants at the event that NNPC is the best partner for them to do business with in the oil and gas sector.
“We are the best partners you can find, NNPC is the largest capitalised company in Africa, we also supply 70 per cent of LNG into Portugal. And that’s why we are practically isolated from the crisis of Ukraine today because their supply is coming from Nigeria.
“And there’s absolute opportunities today for us to grow this supply by working with us. We are putting up mass infrastructure in our country to ensure that gas is made available into our domestic market and also increase supply into the international market.”
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The NNPC GMD commended the Portuguese government for doing business with Nigeria and expressed optimism that the visit of President Buhari to Portugal will unlock more business opportunities for both countries.
The NNPC GMD said that Nigeria has earned over $1bn from Portugal through the sale of gas between January and June this year.
“We are happy and thank you very much for doing business. This year alone we have sold over a billion dollars worth of Natural gas into Portugal. So, you are our biggest partner around here and we are happy to work with you, our country is changing, our company is changing, we have a perfect environment today in our country.
“For doing business with us, there’s lot of opportunities put up in infrastructure. I’m sure that our partners here will appreciate that Nigeria is the place to be. We will be the partner that will supply energy to the world, we will work with you.
Offor while speaking at investment opportunities in Nigeria told participants that each of the 36 states in Nigeria has at least 10 sectors where they have competitive advantage.
The NIPC Boss said, “Nigeria presents tremendous opportunity. Nigeria is a federation that is made up of 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory. If you look at Nigeria in that context, you’ll realize that each of the states in Nigeria has at least 10 opportunities.
“So, the investors coming from Portugal or elsewhere will need to see those opportunities in Nigeria and take advantage of those opportunities.
“Our Minister of Trade has already said that if you are doing business in Africa and you’re not in Nigeria, it could rightly be said that you have not started business in Africa.”
He also said that the population of Nigeria which is over 200 million has provided huge market for investors to sell their products.
“If you look at the population in Nigeria in terms of population, look at the states you’ll see clearly that states like Kano, Lagos in terms of the population they are bigger or larger than certain countries across the globe, like Zimbabwe, Israel.
“If you also look at Nigeria from the context of its large size, you will realize that Borno state and Niger state have a larger land mass than certain countries the globe, like Island, Indonesia.
“And if you look also even at the smallest state in terms of large size as Lagos state, you will realise that Lagos is larger than a reasonable number of countries. And if you look at state with the smallest population which is Bayelsa state you will also realize that Bayelsa is larger than countries like Namibia.
“So, you can see the context of these golden opportunities in Nigeria because each of these states can stand on its own in terms of economic activities, in terms of population, in terms of land size and so you see the slope of opportunities in Nigeria is large.”
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