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By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Group Executive Director, Upstream of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr Adokiye Tombomieye, has disclosed that 60 per cent of Nigeria’s oil demand will be impacted as a result of energy transition.
Tombomieye stated this at the 2022 Annual Conference of the Association of Professional Women Engineers (APWEN), held in Abuja.
Tombomieye, who is the Patron of APWEN, spoke on the theme: “Just Energy Transition Strategy: An Enabler For Sustainable Development in Nigeria.”
According to him, the 60 per cut in fossil fuel (crude oil) demand will significantly and negatively impact crude oil production.
However, he said, that the aggressive move towards a carbon zero emission will boost the ability of Nigerian oil and gas companies to attract funding for their multi-billion-dollar gas projects.
“The Energy transition will continue to impact the ability of Nigeria and oil and gas companies to attract capital as banks and investors prioritise Environmental, Social, and Governance factors and are moving away from funding hydrocarbon projects,” Tombomieye said.
“Globally, the transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions which primarily comes from burning fossil fuels for our cars, trucks, ships, trains, and planes; 90 per cent of the fuel used for transportation is petroleum based, which includes primarily gasoline and diesel.”
According to him, about 60 per cent of the fossil fuel market in Nigeria is driven by the transportation industry and this is a very significant consumption percentage for fossil fuels.
He added that the replacement of Internal Combustion Engine with Electric Vehicles (EVs) will automatically affect the market demand for fossil fuel vehicles.
“With about 60 per cent of your fossil fuel (crude oil) demand impacted, it will significantly and negatively impact crude oil production,” he said.
“Unfortunately, for us in Nigeria, we produce and sell crude oil, which is an anti-energy transition. Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural resources.”
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) estimated the country’s Crude Oil reserves at 37.046 billion barrels and Gas reserves at 208.62TCF as of January 31, this year.
Tombomieye said usage of renewables; solar, wind, tidal wave, natural gas remains a very important transition fuel for sustainable development and Nigeria has a healthy balance of gas and oil.
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“The good news is that financial Institutions will fund gas projects. Therefore, leveraging upon gas development will be a way for Nigeria to navigate the energy transition mantra.
“Energy transition also comes with the opportunities of carbon credits and because Nigeria produced gas and oil, we can market our carbon which will also be an incentive for us to process funding from Financial Institutions,” he said.
According to him, the country’s energy transition will create significant investment opportunities such as the establishment and expansion of industries related to solar energy, hydrogen, and electric vehicles.
“Before the window closes on fossil fuel, Nigeria must utilise its huge Oil and Gas resources to boost our economy and promote sustainable growth and social development for the present and future generations,” he said.
“Nigeria must therefore move away from being an energy exporting country to an energy utilisation country; by processing and utilising our crude oil and gas for our domestic energy needs in order to drive industrialisation, create jobs, and provide electricity for over 200 million Nigerians. No one will do this for us – things must change.”
