The European Union will be looking for additional gas supplies in Nigeria. This latest move by the bloc is in preparation for likely Russian supply cuts.
Matthew Baldwin, the deputy director general of the European Commission energy department, announced this on Saturday. Baldwin was announcing this in Nigeria where the meeting was held with officials from the country this week.
It has been reported that Nigeria is working to improve security inside the Niger Delta and there are plans to re-open the Trans Niger pipeline after August. This move is geared towards producing more gas exports to Europe. The EU imports 14% of its total LNG supplies from Nigeria.
And it is likely to more than double, Baldwin told Reuters news agency by phone. Oil and gas output in Nigeria is greatly affected by thieves and the vandalism of pipelines.
This unfortunate situation has left the gas producer, Nigeria LNG Ltd.’s terminal at Bonny Island operating at 60% capacity.
“If we get up to more than 80%, at that point, it might be additional LNG that will be available for spot cargoes to come to Europe,” Baldwin said.
Nigeria NLG is owned by recently commercialized government-oil company NNPC Ltd, Shell, Total Energies, and Eni.
