Nigeria Optimistic As Middle East War Fuels  Renewed Demand For LNG

Nigeria is witnessing  a  steep uptick in demand for its liquefied natural gas as buyers scramble to secure alternative supplies following the disruption of energy supply chain  from the Middle East, a senior executive at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, NNPC Executive Vice President Olalekan Ogunleye noted that international buyers were returning  to Nigeria  on account of its proximity to key consuming markets and the scale of its gas reserves — the largest on the African continent. “We are right in the middle of the market,” he said. “We are 10 sailing days from Europe, close to the Atlantic Basin and close to Asia.”

The resurgence of attention on Nigeria mirrors  a broader reassessment by energy buyers of their supply dependencies. Martin Houston, a veteran LNG developer and consultant, said the US-Israeli war on Iran had heightened the urgency among buyers to diversify supply risk, opening opportunities for African and South American producers with proven reserves but underdeveloped export infrastructure.

Nigeria LNG, in which NNPC holds the largest stake, currently exports up to 22 million metric tons per year and is already building a seventh production train scheduled for completion in 2027. Ogunleye said the company has begun talks on adding two further trains and is pursuing a separate 12 million metric ton per annum LNG project alongside gas-based industrial hubs, with ambitions to monetise more than 200 trillion cubic feet of Nigeria’s gas reserves.

Ogunleye stated that  demand for natural gas had proven resilient despite the geopolitical turbulence, and that the current tensions would not derail its long-term growth trajectory. If anything, he suggested, they were accelerating it.