Ian Brown-Peterside, the Managing Director, Midstream, Seven Energy, while speaking at the Nigerian Norwegian Chamber of Commerce (NNCC) Q1 2018 Business Roundtable Seminar held recently in Lagos, stressed that the productive utilization of the nation’s gas reserves is critical to Nigeria’s future, The Guardian reports.

“A robust and viable Gas-to-Power sector in Nigeria is critical to Nigeria’s future economic growth, constant power supply will lead to growth across all sectors” he said.

He further stressed that lack of capacity in power generation, compared to other countries, makes it very difficult to attract new investment and retain existing investment in the broader economy, noting that just 25 per cent of Nigeria’s circa 12,000 mega watts of installed generation capacity reaches the end user.

He added that current electricity consumption of 144kwh per capita in Nigeria compared to the global average of 3104kwh is alarming, and wholly inadequate to support the economic development goals of the country.

According to Brown-Peterside, gas policy is not always clear and consistent; further sector challenges include commitment to payment terms in the gas to power business, noting that critical factors like co-operation and alignment between stakeholders, proper risk allocation across the chain to preserve investment, as well as clear fiscal incentives to unlock investment are required to enhance the potential and viability of gas to power.