What to know about Nigeria's $20bn, 70-project natural gas ‘playbook’

The shortlist was drawn from over 200 proposals reviewed by the government’s Decade of Gas Secretariat in July and August. Officials say the projects, spanning power generation, fertiliser, petrochemicals, industrial feedstock, CNG/LPG and exports, together represent potential demand of about 15 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day, Business Day reports. 

“These identified projects represent near-term opportunities with the potential to attract over $20 billion in new investment, create tens of thousands of jobs, and catalyse industrial activity across the country,” Farouk Ahmed, chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said in Lagos at the launch of a “Gas Utilisation Unlock Validation Series.”

Launched in 2021, the Decade of Gas is Abuja’s flagship energy transition agenda, aiming to make gas the primary fuel for industrial growth and export diversification. It rests on four pillars, supply, infrastructure, pricing and utilisation. It seeks to turn more than 200 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves into reliable energy for factories, households and the grid.

Ahmed further noted that the validation series, expected to run for three weeks, is designed to test whether projects can move quickly from paper to execution. Regulators will then match supply with demand, establish pricing mechanisms and pinpoint infrastructure and policy enablers. He added that each project team would work with the NMDPRA and the Secretariat to verify technical, commercial, and financial assumptions, remove bottlenecks and set clear responsibilities and timelines. “This validation series is not only an audit of projects; it is also a way to speed up their implementation,” he told industry leaders.

Despite holding the continent’s largest reserves, investment has been constrained by pipeline gaps, processing bottlenecks, overlapping regulations and uncertain domestic pricing.