EU warns Nigeria against losing its share of global LNG export market

Oredola Adeola

The European Union (EU) has urged Nigeria to align its resource mobilisation and strengthen policies that support its ambitious decades of gas to increase its supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Europe.

Ms. Samuela Isopi, Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, made this known in a statement on Monday while emphasising the need for Nigeria to strengthen trade collaboration with the European bloc.

EnergyDay recalled that Nigeria, with 19.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, is the fourth on the global LNG scale after Qatar, Malaysia, Australia, and the United States of America.

It was gathered that the country has, since 2007, been losing investment in the sector due to poor funding, uncertainties around the regulatory framework, and the divestment by the international oil companies in Nigeria.

The EU envoy confirmed that Nigeria is an important partner in the area of oil and gas for the bloc, especially as it concerns the need to increase the supply of LNG to Europe.

She confirmed that the need for cooperation was reaffirmed by Mr. Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General, Department for Energy, European Commission in Brussels, during his recent visit to Nigeria.

She said, “The visit of our Deputy Director-General for Energy was meant to urge Nigeria to increase the quantity of LNG produced in Nigeria and exported to Europe.”

So we’ve started the discussions. We know that there are challenges, like the situation in the Niger Delta, which has an impact on the gas sector.

“We want Nigeria to deploy resources to produce LNG at full capacity. Europe is ready to work with Nigeria on this issue.

She, therefore, challenged the Nigerian government to take full advantage of the crisis in Russia and Ukraine to increase its supply of the product to the European market.

The Envoy noted that while the EU bloc is reaching out to Nigeria on the need to supply more LNG to the bloc, she noted that the bloc is also hoping to source more LNG from other African countries who are willing to partner with the bloc.

She warned that it would be a pity for Nigeria not to take advantage of this opportunity and “we really hope we will be able to do something concrete.”