Cote d’Ivoire to buy gas from Nigeria
Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha
The Republic of Cote d’ Ivoire has indicated its intention to procure Liquefied Natural Gas from Nigeria in support of its growing power needs.
The deal, which is the first of its kind in the West African sub-region, will see Nigeria commit some of its daily LNG output, which stands at over three billion cubic feet, to its sub-regional neighbours in the first instance before the eventual extension of the West Africa Gas Pipeline to Cote D’Ivoire and Senegal.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said the development had ensured that the country’s move to seek broader frontiers for its gas, away from the traditional Asian-pacific hub, received a sub-regional push.
According to the corporation, a delegation from the Ivorian Ministry of Energy, led by a director, Kone Moussa, visited the headquarters of the NNPC in Abuja with respect to procuring gas from Nigeria.
Moussa, in a statement by the NNPC on Thursday, said his country would be relying on structural diversion of LNG cargoes from Nigeria as a starter within the next few months to tackle the nation’s growing energy needs.
He said the country had already entered into a working relationship with Sahara Energy to drive the process.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha, said the corporation was ready to cash in on the opportunity in line with its overall strategic expansion drive for Nigeria’s LNG market.
The Group Executive Director, Gas and Power, NNPC, David Ige, emphasised that the move would help broaden the LNG supply base.
He was quoted as saying,”At the moment, the entire West African sub-region, starting from Nigeria, is undergoing phenomenal economic growth and that practically translates into a higher demand for energy.
“As you know the West African Gas pipeline terminates in Ghana; so, Cote D’Ivoire has come to request that we bring gas to them, in the first instance, by LNG, and ultimately in the future by extension of the pipeline.”
Ige noted that apart from offering a strategic opportunity for the NNPC and Nigeria, the project was in line with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development spirit and would serve the mutual growth of the Economic Community of West African States member countries by fostering the economic integration of the corridor.
“What this means is that in the future, we don’t have to go as far as Europe or Asia to supply LNG when we can do so next door,” he added.
The NNPC stated that earlier, a delegation from Ghana led by the country’s Minister of Power, Kwabena Donkor, came to seek support on recent unintended gas supply disruptions in the WAGP grid.
Ige gave an assurance that the NNPC was working aggressively with all other partners in the WAGPCO to restore supply disruptions wrought by extraneous factors.
“It has been a very difficult time not only for Ghana but for Nigeria as well because of the disruptions to the pipeline. But I believe and strongly too that the various interventions that are ongoing by the Federal Government will help restore as well as grow the reliability of the WAGP,” he said.
