European countries are making plans to ramp up gas importation from Nigeria to the tune of 22 million tons per year, providing an opportunity for Africa’s most populous nation to earn revenues.
A document obtained by The PUNCH from the Global Gas Monitor entitled, ‘Europe Scrambles for African Gas’, published by DW on Friday, said Africa was the next gas hub for European countries.
The document put Nigeria as the country attracting the biggest European interest after Algeria (29 million tons).
Apart from Nigeria and Algeria, the report identified eight other African countries to also benefit from the plan to include: Mauritania, 10 million tons; Mozambique, 19 million tons; Democratic Republic of Congo, 1.2million tons; and Tanzania, 4 million tons.
Others are: Cameroon, 6 million tons; Equatorial Guinea, 5.2million tons; Angola, 12.2 million tons, and Egypt, 29 million tons.
The EU declared fossil gas a transition fuel this year, describing it as ‘sustainable’.
Oil is a source of revenue for many African countries, accounting for 50 to 80 per cent of total government revenue in some countries.
Oil and gas exports account for 80 per cent of Nigeria’s yearly revenue, but most of the minerals are refined abroad due to the absence of functional refineries.
The PUNCH learnt that rich countries, especially Europe, negotiated new gas supplies with Nigeria at the just concluded COP27 meeting held last week in Egypt.
The fresh deal comes at a time when the country has declared gas as its transitional fuel.
Director of Power Shift Africa, a think tank based in Nairobi, Mohamed Adow, told journalists at the COP27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that Europe was trying to make Africa its ‘gas station’ but was not providing enough money for renewable energy.
