Nigeria gets first gas blueprint

Okey Muogbo, Abuja - 14.02.2008

THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved Nigeria’s first Gas Infrastructure Blueprint which would guide the management of the gas sector in the country.

Minister of State for Energy (Gas), Emmanuel Odusina, who briefed journalists after the FEC meeting, said the masterplan “is to grow the Nigerian economy with gas by pursuing three key strategies.”

The strategies, he said, were to stimulate the multiplier effect of gas in the domestic economy, position Nigeria competitively in high value export markets and guarantee the long term energy security of the country.

He further said that the blueprint presented the guide for gas infrastructure investment in Nigeria that would ensure that synergies are maximised and infrastructure is aligned to deliver the aspirations of Nigeria.

According to Odusina, under the blueprint, three domestic central processing facilities “at the Warri/Forcados area, Akwa Ibom/Calabar area and Obiafu area (north of PortHarcourt would be established.”

The central processing facilities would be the major gas hubs where wet gas from gas fields would come, get treated and processed and that liquified petroleum gas (cooking gas) and condensate will be extracted at these facilities and the dry gas fed into a network of gas transmission lines.