EU looks to Nigeria for additional gas supplies

Lagos — The EU is seeking additional gas supplies from Nigeria as the bloc prepares for potential Russian supply cuts, Matthew Baldwin, deputy director-general of the European Commission’s energy department, said on Saturday.

Baldwin was speaking in Nigeria where he held meetings with officials from Africa’s largest oil producer this week.

He was told Nigeria was improving security in the Niger Delta and planned to reopen the Trans Niger pipeline after August, which would yield more gas exports to Europe.

The EU imports 14% of its total liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Nigeria and there is potential to more than double this, Baldwin told Reuters by phone.

Oil and gas output in Nigeria is being throttled by theft and vandalism of pipelines, leaving gas producer Nigeria LNG’s terminal at Bonny Island operating at 60% capacity.

“If we can get up to beyond 80%, at that point, there might be additional LNG that could be available for spot cargoes to come to Europe,” Baldwin said.

“They [Nigerian officials] said to us, ‘Come and talk to us again at the end of August because we think we can deliver real progress on this’.”

Nigeria NLG is owned by state-oil company NNPC, Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni.

The European Commission said on Wednesday that EU member states should cut their gas use by 15% from August to March. The target would initially be voluntary, but would become mandatory if the commission declared an emergency.

In 2021 Nigeria exported 23-billion cubic metres of gas to the EU, but the figure has been declining over the years. In 2018 the bloc bought 36-billion cubic metres of LNG from Nigeria, Baldwin said. 

Reuters