Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria have initiated talks to expand bilateral cooperation on gas market optimization, stated H.E Gabriel Obiang Lima, Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, during the recent launch of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Lagos.
The Minister’s announcement follows the two countries’ signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on gas processing in early March 2022 as part of Equatorial Guinea’s Gas Mega Hub initiative, which is designed to position the country as a regional energy processing and transportation hub.
H.E Minister Lima revealed that the discussions will enable exploitation of Nigeria’s 200 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and Equatorial Guinea’s 1.5 tcf of natural gas reserves to eradicate energy poverty locally and regionally, at both a continental and international level.
While the two countries have vast gas resources, energy access and security remain low due to limited investments across upstream, midstream and downstream sectors. Nigeria, for instance, has over 85 million people living without access to electricity, while Equatorial Guinea’s energy access rate remains at 67%.
While Equatorial Guinea’s gas market boom has already started with the sector generating more revenue for the government than the oil industry for the first time in 2022, according to H.E. Minister Lima, Nigeria seeks to maximize its market with 20 new critical gas projects which the government has identified and is set to implement as part of the Decade of Gas Initiative, according to H.E. Chief Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
H.E Minister Lima said that while inadequate infrastructure is one of the biggest barriers to gas market growth in Africa, collaboration between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea will help address this, with the two developing interconnection pipelines for oil, gas and liquefied natural gas transportation, helping both countries to monetize their resources for economic and GDP growth.
The Minister also reiterated that improved ties between the two countries will help reduce reliance on energy imports, thereby reducing vulnerabilities to global shocks caused by geopolitical tensions such as the Russia-Ukraine war.
