Success Nwogu The Executive Chairman, Pipeline Professionals’ Association of Nigeria, Engr Geoff Onuoha, has said there should be more synergy between the government and oil and gas investora as well as allied companies to achieve the $20 billion annual investment that Nigeria needs in gas infrastructure.
In an interview with New Telegraph over the weekend, Onuoha agreed that there was a $20 billion investment requirement to address the challenge in the country but added that companies are already investing to bridge the infrastructure deficit.
He said: “It is true that Nigeria needs a $20 billion annual investment in gas infrastructure. But we must not have all the money. We have to start with one step at a time. It is not only the government that will bring that $20 billion.
Companies are doing it. So if you see a company that runs a gas pipeline to carry gas that is part of the investment. “It is not only the gas production, people who drill wells produce gas are also making investments.
People who build gas processing plants; that is an investment. People who build tanks such as the ones you see on trucks, or even bottles, those are investments. So if you aggregate all those, different stages, people who have systems for measuring such as metering gas that is an investment.
If you aggregate all that, that is the total investment you are talking about. “There is the need to ensure more investment in the sector. That is what is going on now. There is a push now.
We need to have billions of dollars of investment. We should not be intimidated by how big it is. While not us just start one at a time. But it is happening. There are big gas plants being built around Nigeria now.
Many companies are focusing on gas. Before we had mostly oil companies. Now, there are companies that are gas companies. The drill for gas and not even for oil.”
The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, recently said that Nigeria needed $20 billion annually for 10 years as investment in gas infrastructure.
He spoke during his presentation of the latest NEITI oil and gas industry report to the Senate Committee on Public Accounts. Orji said: “We need to invest in gas infrastructure to evacuate our gas.
Our study shows that Nigeria needs an initial investment of $20 billion annually for 10 years to be able to generate the kind of gas infrastructure required.”
Onuoha, who is also the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, B.G. Technical Limited, said there should be mode involvement of the private sectors or companies to deepen accountability and transparency in the management of investments in the sector.
He said: “One of the easiest ways is to let the private sector do it. If I go and borrow money from someone or outside, I am not going to fritter it away. Look at how many Nigerian companies you see in the oil and gas sector.
These guys are making investments. They are buying things so the money is not going to fritter away.” According to him, there are enormous opportunities in the oil and gas sector and urged indigenous companies to take advantage of these opportunities.
He said: “Nigerian companies should avail themselves of the opportunity in the gas and oil industry. They should participate. Get involved. Find the areas where you can cooperate.
Some of them are in different areas. Like my company, we are focusing on infrastructure. The other companies are focusing on developing gas fields, drilling, and forming companies to prospect for gas.
There are some companies that are focused on taking gas that are produced with oil so they go and put some small gas plants near the oil field and take the gas. Different people are doing different things.”
He also said though there were incentives already, it is necessary to provide more incentives to grow the sector. He further canvassed more investments in the sector.
Onuoha said: “There should be incentives to make gas reachable to everybody. So if you have gas, you can generate electricity, you can drive your cars, you can cook. We have an abundance of gas in Nigeria. There are incentives for gas. There are tax incentives for companies. “
