Seplat: Nigeria’s gas wealth won’t end energy poverty without infrastructure

By Onu Okorie

Company urges investment in pipelines, processing plants, gas-to-power projects
Nigeria’s huge gas reserves may fail to translate into cheaper electricity, industrial growth and improved living standards unless urgent investment is channelled into the infrastructure required to produce, process and deliver the resource, Seplat Energy Plc has warned.
The energy company said the central challenge facing Nigeria was no longer the availability of gas in the ground, but the ability to convert the resource into reliable energy for homes, industries and power plants.
Speaking at the Gas Investment Forum (GIF) 2026 in Lagos, Seplat Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Effiong Okon, represented by the company’s Director, Gas & New Energy, Mr Okechukwu Mba, said Nigeria’s more than 215 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves could provide a major platform for economic transformation if backed by sustained investment.
The forum was themed, “Positioning Nigeria as Africa’s Global Gas Powerhouse.”
Okon said the scale of energy poverty across Africa had made the development of gas infrastructure increasingly urgent, noting that about 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity.
He said, “Gas reserves in the ground do not power homes or factories. Gas creates value only when it is produced and reliably delivered to consumers.”
The Seplat chief executive said Nigeria must therefore shift attention from repeatedly highlighting its gas reserves to building the pipelines, processing facilities, power infrastructure and distribution networks needed to monetise them.
Gas-to-power investment
He commended recent Federal Government measures to improve the investment environment, particularly efforts to address legacy debts within the gas-to-power value chain.
According to him, resolving the outstanding debts would improve the bankability of gas projects and give investors greater confidence to commit capital to new developments.
Okon also cited recent final investment decisions on major energy projects and the commencement of operations on the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline as developments capable of strengthening Nigeria’s gas industry.
He said reforms introduced under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) were also important to improving transparency and creating a more predictable investment environment.
The roles of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF), he added, were contributing to regulatory certainty and efforts to close infrastructure gaps.
He further noted that Nigeria’s strategic location in the Gulf of Guinea could enable the country to serve growing energy markets across Africa and internationally, including Europe.
Seplat’s domestic gas push
The company used the forum to highlight its own investments in gas infrastructure, saying it had invested substantially in facilities designed to expand domestic gas supply over the past decade.
Okon listed the 375 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) Oben Gas Plant, 90 MMscfd Sapele Gas Plant and 300 MMscfd ANOH Gas Plant among the company’s major gas assets.
He said the facilities had strengthened Seplat’s position as a major supplier to Nigeria’s domestic gas market, with the company currently supplying six power stations directly while supporting industrial customers through its gas distribution networks.
The ANOH Gas Plant also supplies gas to fertiliser producers, linking gas development with agricultural productivity and food security.
Okon said Seplat’s acquisition of ExxonMobil’s onshore and offshore assets had further expanded domestic supplies of butane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), while investments in compressed natural gas (CNG) infrastructure were extending access to cleaner energy beyond areas covered by existing pipeline networks.
From gas reserves to economic output
The company also highlighted its environmental performance, saying it had ended routine gas flaring across its onshore operations at the end of 2025, contributing to a reduction in operational emissions intensity.
Okon called for stronger collaboration among government, investors, financial institutions and industry operators to develop projects capable of turning Nigeria’s gas resources into electricity, industrial production and jobs.
He said the country could no longer afford to remain focused on the size of its reserves without addressing the infrastructure and financing constraints preventing their full utilisation.
The message from the forum was that Nigeria’s gas opportunity will ultimately be measured not by the volume of gas underground, but by how much of it can be reliably delivered to power plants, factories, homes and other productive sectors of the economy.