“This project will facilitate the expansion of gas supply to the western and northern parts of the country, especially for the supply of gas to power plants and the West African Gas Pipeline,” the country’s oil minister Odein Ajumogobia is quoted as saying. “It will also expand the current gas supply from Shell and Chevron through the ELP system. Completion is in 24 months,” the minister added.

A decline in gas supply through the ELP pipeline had affected electricity generation by the country’s biggest power plant, the 1,320-MW Lagos thermal plant, with output currently at 50% of installed capacity. Nigeria, with gas reserves estimated at 187t cuft, currently flares more than 40% of the 2.5bn cuft of gas produced daily. The government launched a new gas policy last February to promote the domestic supply of gas over exports. Oil producers have been directed to divert a percentage of their gas production to the domestic market for use by power and fertilizer plants.