Nigeria will require between $40 billion and $200 billion to bridge its energy gap, Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Co (SNEPCo) has said.
The Managing Director of SNEPCo, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, said a country without a secured energy system could not claim to have power.
Delivering a paper entitled ‘Nigeria’s energy security and sustainable development in Nigeria, The way forward’ at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum 2019 in Abuja on Thursday, Ojulari said that he was unhappy that 70 percent of the country’s installed electricity capacity was lost without reaching consumers.
According to him, because of aging equipment and vandalism, 70 percent of the populace have less than four hours of electricity daily.
“Energy is not standing alone, it is about its impact on the society,” he said.
Ojulari noted that in the next 10 years, energy demand is expected to double and that by 2050, solar could emerge as the dominant power energy source. But oil and gas need would continue.
In his remarks, the Group managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, said despite abundant oil and gas reserves, the country still experiences shortages in electric power.
According to him, based on Nigeria’s Energy consumption current forecast, statistics showed an increase from 6GW in 2015 to 30GW by 2025.
The primary source of the current power supply, he added, is hydro and gas.
Baru insisted that the future consumption, which is expected to drive growth by 2025, would need aggressive development of gas and renewable projects to meet the exponential demand.
MM/GIK/APA