Nigeria, others risk losing gas resource gains as stakeholders decry gas pipeline deficit

Key players in Africa’s petroleum and gas industry, including the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO), Nigeria LNG (NLNG), and other stakeholders, have raised concerns over the lack of critical pipeline infrastructure, which they say is a major obstacle hindering the development of Nigeria’s and Africa’s gas sector.

Speaking during the 2025 Africa Gas Innovation Summit (AGIS), held in Abuja on Wednesday, Omar Farouk, Secretary General APPO, issued a stark warning on the continent’s energy trajectory, highlighting that despite Africa’s immense gas reserves estimated at over 600 trillion cubic feet, poor infrastructure continues to leave much of this resource stranded.

Farouk called for a continental paradigm shift from dependency on global structures to self-sufficiency and regional integration. He said Africa’s limited pipeline infrastructure, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, continues to render vast natural gas reserves inaccessible and underutilised.

“Nigeria has just about 7,000km of gas pipelines compared to France’s 37,000km, despite having a population nearly four times larger. The whole continent has a little over 30,000km of operational pipelines, with Algeria alone accounting for 13,000km. Europe, in contrast, operates over 227,000km,” he said.

He stressed that infrastructure bottlenecks have become a severe constraint and urged African nations to stop relying on outsiders for financing, technology, and market access.

He said APPO is working with partners like Afreximbank to launch the Africa Energy Bank, headquartered in Abuja, to address the financing gap and build energy infrastructure, including pipeline networks across Central Africa.

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In the same vein, Philip Mshelbila, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria LNG, reiterated the infrastructure challenge as a major constraint in unlocking the country’s gas potential.

“Gas remains stranded without pipelines, and industries will continue to be underutilised. Infrastructure, be it pipelines, metering systems, or processing plants, is not just a technical requirement, but an economic lifeline,” Mshelbila stated.

He added that while NLNG has made strides with over 5,000km of pipelines and a growing domestic gas supply programme, scalable and decentralised infrastructure investments remain essential to drive domestic utilisation and industrial corridors.

In his remarks, Ekperikpe Ekpo, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), called for stronger regional collaboration through shared infrastructure projects such as the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline and the Trans-Saharan venture, noting that “these are not just pipelines; they are economic lifelines.”

The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Ahmed Galadima Aminu, reiterated the agency’s commitment to building a skilled workforce and encouraging indigenous innovation through strategic capacity development.

“Our sponsorship of AGIS 2025 underscores PTDF’s drive to develop home-grown solutions and resilient institutions. Collaboration between government, academia, and industry is essential to unlocking Africa’s gas potential,” he said.