Nigeria eyes $60bn gas investment in 7 years — NNPC

By Abubakar Yunusa

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said the country is targeting $60 billion in new investments over the next five to seven years to expand gas infrastructure.
Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer of NNPC, spoke while addressing a global audience at the opening of the Gastech Exhibition and Conference in Milan, Italy.
According to NAN, he said the federal government was seeking the investment to boost industrialisation and reinforce the country’s position in the global energy market.
The planned investment, Ojulari said, was aimed at scaling up Nigeria’s natural gas production to 12 billion cubic feet per day and expanding the refinery capacity to meet growing global energy demand.
“We are seeking at least 60 billion dollars in investment over the next five to seven years, which for our oil and gas industry is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
“We are seeking investors to grow production.”
Ojulari said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), signed into law in 2021, transformed NNPC into a limited liability company, enabling it to access direct funding and forge global partnerships.
He said the company was currently producing about 1.6 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) with a mandate to grow output to 2 million bpd by 2027 and 3 million bpd by 2030.
Ojulari highlighted some ongoing projects, including the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) pipeline, the extension of the West African Gas Pipeline to Morocco and Europe, as well as the expansion of the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) project.
The GCEO said Nigeria already supplies 60 percent of LNG to Portugal and Spain, and is currently on Train 6, constructing Train 7 to be completed in 2026, with plans for Trains 8 and 9.
“Nigeria has one of the best-run LNG businesses globally. We want to take advantage of the current high energy demand, which is also expected to go even higher,” Ojulari said.
On clean energy, he said the government was driving LPG adoption and has launched a programme to deliver 2 million cylinders nationwide, while also rolling out a compressed natural gas (CNG) transition scheme for vehicles and machinery.
On Nigeria’s role in global energy security, Ojulari added that geopolitical shifts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, had accelerated regional pipeline projects to strengthen energy security.
The NNPC boss added that Nigeria has over 200 undeveloped oil and gas fields, describing them as greenfield opportunities for international investors.
On how foreign policy shifts affect Nigeria’s energy sector, Ojulari said the country had been hosting investments from diverse global players, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Agip and TotalEnergies.
“Nigeria is a global market. While foreign policies do impact us, our focus is on creating a stable market and building the right partnerships,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Ekperikpe Ekpo, minister of state for petroleum resources (gas), reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to leveraging its vast reserves to drive industrialisation, regional integration and global energy security.
He said natural gas remained central to Nigeria’s energy strategy, powering industries, clean cooking, agriculture, job creation and public health.
“Nigeria as a gas nation is committed to using our natural gas to serve our economy, our continent, and other parts of the world,” Ekpo said.
He noted that the NLNG project was set to raise production capacity from 22 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 30 MTPA with Train 7.
Ekpo said the country was also pushing regional pipeline diplomacy through the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, a 5,000-kilometre transcontinental project designed to connect West Africa to Europe.
The minister added that the government was also engaging with Algeria and Equatorial Guinea on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline to expand regional energy interconnectivity.
With an estimated 210 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, Ekpo said Nigeria was open to investors and had introduced regulatory reforms and executive orders under President Bola Tinubu to create an investor-friendly environment.