The Managing Director, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Philip Mshelbila, has said that natural gas will remain a key energy source to the world in the next 20 to 30 years, despite the debate around the current energy transition.

The global West has continued to push for a quicker decarbonisation of energy supply, although Nigeria and other African countries which rely heavily on fossil fuels sales argue that there needs to be more fairness and equity in the discussions.

For the International Energy Agency (IEA), which basically works for the world's rich countries, some of the measures that would be critical to reach net-zero include restrictions in approvals of new oil and gas field development.

In addition, the body has insisted that there should be no new coal mines or mine extensions by this year while electric vehicles should reach 60 per cent of global car sales by 2030 as well as nearly 70 per cent of global electricity generation being produced from solar and wind by 2050.

But Mshelbila who spoke at the World LNG Summit and Awards in Athens, Greece, noted that gas will continue to play a major role in the global energy mix.

He listed the efforts being made by the gas industry to reduce carbon emission, adding that there is a need for other industries outside of gas to also cut down on their emissions.

"We are quite confident that over the next 20 to 30 years, natural gas will continue to play a vital role as a major source of energy to the world. As the gas industry works towards decarbonising its value chain, we must encourage others outside our chain, to also reduce their emissions," he suggested at the event.

Although Nigeria has about 209 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and about 600 tcf of unproven gas reserves, t Mshelbila said that there is big underserved domestic demand for gas in Nigeria.

He said: "There is huge underserved domestic demand for gas in Nigeria. Even though our main product is LNG for export, we supply about 40 per cent of the LPG utilised by the Nigerian domestic market.

"We are also supporting the Government's Decade of Gas Initiative which seeks to supply gas for both export and domestic use - LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)."