Mr Kyari said the nation has also seen the emergence of the incorporation of the national oil company from NNPC to NNPC Limited.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Monday said it plans to sustain and increase aggressive gas development and transportation projects to achieve affordable and clean energy in the country.
According to NNPCL, this is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) seven, a strategic energy plan towards finding a balance for the energy trilemma.
The NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, disclosed during the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE) 2023 themed 'Balancing Energy Accessibility, Affordability, and Sustainability: Strategic Options for Africa', held in Lagos on Monday.
Mr Kyari, represented by Adokiye Tombomieye, NNPCL's executive vice president, Upstream, said African countries grapple with strategies of balancing energy availability with meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Number 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and 13 (climate actions).
"To bring the subject matter home, three keywords pertain to Africa and Nigeria in particular. Energy accessibility means ensuring all citizens can access reliable, modern energy, irrespective of their location or socio-economic status.
"Energy affordability entails ensuring energy and its infrastructure are priced so they can be obtained without financial strain by Africans, while Energy sustainability implies that our energy use does not harm the local environment or exhaust resources, affecting future generations," he said.
This, he said, is indeed a trilemma situation and the delicate balance between political will, technological innovation, effective market mechanisms, well-crafted policy interventions, and capacity building.
"It also demands a multi-stakeholder approach, one that involves government, the private sector, civil society, host community and the public at large."
In the past few years, the Nigerian energy industry has witnessed strategic transformation which has given birth to viable industry legislation, the PIA, and a long-term gas-centred energy transition plan, he said.
On the policy front, Mr Kyari said the nation has also seen the emergence of the incorporation of the national oil company from NNPC to NNPC Limited.
He explained that the PIA also provides for NNPCL to engage in the renewable energy business; just as the Nigerian Climate Act gives room for mainstreaming climate change actions to achieve low emissions, inclusive green growth, and sustainable economic development.
He said Nigeria is not transitioning away from hydrocarbons, however, they hope to see an increase in the footprint of alternative cleaner energy sources in the foreseeable future amid fossil fuel dominance.
"We use what we have to get to our desired destination. This is the reason that NNPC Limited has identified gas as a transition fuel and we are expanding our gas development and gas infrastructure across the country to increase energy accessibility," he said.
Natural Gas
He said Nigeria has about 209.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves with a potential upside of up to 600 TCF, and this is an enormous resource that would drive a cleaner and affordable energy vision.
"Other alternative energy sources such as solar and wind are faced with technology limitations. They are still not affordable and cannot meet the high energy demands of our industries, cities and remote environments.
"NNPC Limited plans to sustain and increase our aggressive gas development and gas transportation projects to achieve affordable and clean energy which is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), Goal No. 7, as our strategic energy plan towards finding a balance for the energy dilemma," Mr Kyari said.
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He also encouraged all industry stakeholders and the professional body (SPE) Nigeria Council to contribute to ensuring the provision of affordable, clean, and efficient energy options to stakeholders comprising over 200 million Nigerians, under a just and equitable transition.
"This includes not only our efforts in harnessing the existing energy resources but also in innovative research, development, and adoption of new and emerging technologies in the energy sector.
"Our collective success will be defined by how we deliver an affordable wide range of energy sources sustainably," he said.
He said "all of these cannot be achieved if we do not have security of our operations. We will continue to further deepen collaboration amongst all the relevant stakeholders; government security agencies, host communities and others to enhance our energy security.
"This will require provision of adequate and timely investments to build resilient energy systems capable of delivering energy to support socio-economic development in a sustainable manner," he added.
