Nigeria Orders Gas Companies to Prioritize Supplies to Local Consumers

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria ordered oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. to come up with a plan to boost domestic gas supplies by the end of October, or risk a suspension of all liquefied natural gas export projects.

Gas Minister Emmanuel Odusina said the companies must set aside between 280 million and 350 million cubic feet of gas by the end of the year for domestic use, according to an e-mailed statement from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which represents state interests in the energy industry.


“We must prioritize domestic gas supply over any LNG project, since the country needs power,” Odusina said. Nigeria, whose natural-gas reserves of 187 trillion cubic feet are the world’s seventh-biggest, is also Africa’s most populous country and suffers from chronic power shortages.

The country of 140 million people is currently generating only 3,000 megawatts of power, out of an installed capacity of 6,000 megawatts. Parts of the country go for days and weeks without power, leaving companies to rely on their own generators.

Bloomberg