In a historic move for intra-African gas trade, Riverside LNG, a Nigerian energy company, has announced plans to export Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to South Africa from 2027, and is also exploring potential opportunities in Liberia and Cameroon.
The announcement comes as Nigeria – home to abundant gas reserves – is seeking to expand its gas market and become a regional LNG trading hub, serving countries across southern and West Africa, northwest Europe, the Caribbean and South America.
“We’d probably very early in the year close out another segment of the market, an off-take for South Africa,” stated David Ige, CEO of Riverside LNG. “There’s a massively evolving gas market in the region, anything around 3,000 nautical miles of Nigeria… A lot of those countries are looking to go gas. We see a huge opportunity for Nigeria in being a trading hub.”
South Africa, for its part, faces chronic electricity shortages. Due to frequent breakdowns of power utility Eskom’s aging coal plants and financial constraints in the sector, the country is looking to diversify its energy mix and reduce reliance on coal.
