Post #216

🇳🇬New Pipes, Old Habits Nigeria sits on more than 200 trillion cubic feet of gas, its government promotes a Decade of Gas. However, electric grid and factories still struggle for fuel, while gas volumes now line up for export. 🌐Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea have signed a deal to fast track a cross border pipeline that will send Nigerian gas to Equatorial Guinea. The gas will go to the Punta Europa plant on Bioko Island, where it will be processed into liquefied gas. 🔸 The Ajaokuta Steel Complex, the Aluminium Smelter Company, Olorunsogo and Omotosho power plants - this is far from complete list of Nigeria's plants and factories that have not started working at all or are not operating at full capacity due to problems with gas supplies. 🔸 The country still suffers from limited pipeline infrastructure, weak processing capacity and security problems along pipelines, which all make it hard to bring gas to local users - however, this does not prevents Abuja from exporting the so much needed fuel abroad. With the new deal, Nigeria risks falling into the same trap as with oil that was exported, refined abroad and brought back at an inflated dollar price. The pipeline to Equatorial Guinea may earn revenue, yet it also shows that unfinished work on domestic gas keeps Nigeria locked into an export and import loop that serves foreign markets more than national industrial growth. Devils Below