Hampered gas investments resulting from oil companies’ recorded deficit have deprived Nigeria of 40,000 MW of electricity generated from natural gas reserves, Punch reported.

The country has one of the lowest power generation levels per person in the world despite being home to Africa’s largest natural gas reserves. The country’s Department of Petroleum Resources  showed that the nation’s natural gas reserves had increased from about 189tcf to 192tcf as of 2016, with potential for up to 600tcf. As the department’s Director General, Mordecai Ladan, added, despite the abundant gas reserves base, the domestic sector was relatively underdeveloped and the country had yet to fully benefit from the natural gas endowment.

Meanwhile, Chevron’s Oil Producers Trade Section Managing Director, Clay Neff, said that “only about 25% of those reserves are being produced or under development today. The remaining 135tcf of proven gas is not associated with any planned development. And there is virtually no active exploration in search of new gas reserves.” He further added that “the total power potential of these discovered but undeveloped reserves represents 68 years of 40,000 MW compared to today’s power generation of approximately 4,000 MW.”

Chevron’s official explained that since 2010, the Nigerian oil industry received about $6b per year less than required to fully implement its joint venture plans including gas developments. This setback is due to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failure to meet its funding share.

Similatly, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited had recently said that the lack of adequate joint-venture funding had delayed the planned start-up dates for two major gas-gathering projects.