The Federal Government announced that it had paid more than $120 million of the $1.3 billion owed to gas suppliers in order to promote the country’s gas output.
Mr. Ed. Ubong, Director of the Decade of Gas Secretariat, announced at the 7th Edition of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) on Thursday that the payment was made to settle certain outstanding bills.
Ubong spoke at a session titled “From Blueprint to Reality: Navigating Nigeria’s Gas Decade and a Balanced Narrative on Energy Transitions.”
He stated that gas producers were owing roughly $1.3 billion in arrears as of 2023, although the government made payments totaling more than $120 million between October and January 2024.
Ubong stated that the administration is preparing a way to repay the remaining debt.
“That’s a piece of work that is ongoing and we hope that it will be approved, and then the industry can move away from those issues.
“Sitting at the back of the earth is about 300 million to 600 million scuff of gas which can become available once the OB3 gas pipeline is completed.
“Once OB3 is completed, over 600 million scuffs of gas will become available on the network feeding into the Ajeokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline.
“We must build a gas capacity. The engineers, the technicians that will work in this new gas sector that we are looking at for the next eight months.
“And at the Secretariat, we are committed to that. We are looking for interns, we are looking for young people who are willing to join us and then provide their time and energy supporting bigger goals of the sector,” he said.