ABUJA- Dr. Joseph Dawha, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said domestic demand for gas was expected to rise to over 10 billion cubic feet per day (bcfpd) by 2020.
He described the level of demand for gas as overwhelming.
This is contained in the 2014 last quarter bulletin of NNPC obtained by the newsmen in Abuja.
The NNPC boss, while putting the domestic gas utilisation in Nigeria in perspective, said gas utilisation was less than 500 million cubic feet per day (mcfpd) about seven years ago.
According to him, the demand in Nigeria alone is over two bcfpd, growing to five bcfpd by 2017 and over seven bcfpd by 2020.
“At seven bcfpd, we will be almost 150 per cent the size of South Korean consumption. Post 2020, demand is expected to soar rapidly to well over 10 bcfpd.
“At the global level, the demand is less than an aggregate of four bcfpd a few years ago to potentially over 15 bcfpd in the next five to 10 years.
“This creates an overwhelming challenge for supply and by inference on the industry,” he said.
He said that Federal Government was pursuing its aspiration of transforming the nation into gas driven economy vigorously.
The GMD said that gas was now a fuel of choice with far reaching impact on domestic, regional and global economy.
According to him, nowhere is the pulse of gas economy more felt than here at home and within the region.
On steps being taken to meet the astronomical increase in gas demand, Dawha said the Federal Government and the NNPC had embarked on a very aggressive implementation of the Gas Master Plan.
He stressed that it had also stepped up actions on the development of gas infrastructure at an unprecedented pace in the history of the country.
“Over 500 km of pipelines have been laid and many more kilometres planned in the next two to three years.
“ We have commenced the strategic linkage of the East to the West and almost completed the expansion of the Escravous-Lagos Pipeline System (ELSP) to support increased domestic and regional flow,” he said.
He said steps were being taken to position Nigeria and NNPC as key players in the evolving gas-driven economy.
He said these included introduction of a new commercial framework for gas to serve as incentive for gas producers to produce more.