President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday his regime’s planned multi-billion dollar gas project will create over 500,000 jobs and eventually end gas flaring, or burning off, in the major oil-producing nation.
Jonathan said the implementation of the plan “will result in about $25 billion worth of investments in gas processing, transmission and downstream gas utilisation projects,” a statement from his office said.
“In total, this initiative will result in over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs from construction, logistics, hotels and hospitality services, fabrication, banking and above all, agriculture,” he added.
The Nigerian state oil firm NNPC has signed a memorandum of understanding with partners for petrochemicals and fertiliser plants, including Jeddah-based Xenel, India-based Nagarjuna and US giant Chevron, the statement said.
The project includes the establishment of a central gas processing facility, a huge petrochemical plant and two fertiliser plants, the statement said.
“This agenda sets the tone for the final elimination of gas flaring in Nigeria as the markets created provide a sink for all currently flared gas,” Jonthan said.
Nigeria’s proven gas reserves are officially put at 187 trillion cubic feet, estimated as the world’s eighth-largest, but much of them are currently flared, in part because of a lack of infrastructure to capture and use them.
The government wants to use gas reserves to fire new power plants to address its electricity supply problems, with outages daily occurrences in Africa’s most populous nation, and to increase liquefied natural gas exports.
Jonathan commended investors from Saudi Arabia, India, Italy, United States and Nigeria who have signed on as stakeholders in the implementation of the gigantic gas project, the statement said.
The petroleum industry accounts for an estimated 90 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings and 80 percent of government revenues.
Mar252011