As a result of the current global energy crisis, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has identified diplomacy as a key element of foreign relations.

According to a  statement  by his Senior Adviser on Media and Communication, Horatius Egua,  the Minister who spoke at a dinner with the diplomatic community in Abuja, expressed Nigeria’s readiness to leverage its gas resources to drive industrialization in the country.

In line with its commitment to carbon emissions reduction, Nigeria at COP-26, made commitment to achieve net zero emission by 2060, and has adopted gas as its transition fuel. The country has about 209 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and about 600 tcf of unproven  gas reserves.

Sylva regretted that despite the abundant natural gas in the country, Nigeria is confronted with energy poverty, adding that  gas is the right pathway for the country to bridge its energy gap.

“The answer is not far-fetched, energy is the basic resource for national socio-economic development and it must be secured at all times,” Sylva said.

“As a result of its rising impact on national security and economy, the need to safeguard energy and ensure availability, reliability and affordability has made energy diplomacy an essential part of every country’s foreign cooperation.

“It is important to stress that Nigeria’s vehicle of choice on the energy transition journey is natural gas.

“Much has been done towards harnessing this huge potential to provide the energy needed for our growing population in terms of power generation, transport, feedstock for industries and clean cooking solutions.

“It is disheartening that Nigeria is still energy-poor despite our enormous energy resources, which include over 200 TCF of proven natural gas reserve with a potential upside of up to 600 TCF.”

A significant number of people in Nigeria lack access to reliable electricity and clean cooking fuels. Sylva noted that the government is deepening domestic utilisation of gas in the country under  the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), which was launched in 2020.

“We have rolled out the Autogas Scheme with the aim of displacing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) with Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas. This will reduce PMS use and minimise CO2 emissions,” he added.

The Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) connects over 2,000 senior delegates across all the energy value chain. The Minister said that Federal Government will continue to leverage the platform to speed-up global energy transition agenda as it continues to promote energy efficiency and renewable technologies.