Nigeria Targets 70% of Africa’s Gas Demand with Higher Output
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this at the 2026 Gastech conference in Bangkok, Thailand, where its Chief Executive, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said Nigeria was positioning natural gas as a strategic resource for domestic supply, exports and financing its energy transition.
Eyesan said Nigeria currently produces about eight billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas daily, describing the output as a small fraction of its vast reserves.
She said significantly increasing production could enable Nigeria to meet growing domestic demand while supplying a substantial share of the gas required by other African countries.
According to her, doubling or tripling Nigeria’s current gas production could enable the country to supply up to 70 per cent of Africa’s gas demand.
However, Eyesan said achieving the target would require increased investment, commercially viable gas pricing and expanded infrastructure.
She said the Federal Government had introduced incentives to attract investments into the sector, while the NUPRC had continued to make oil and gas assets available through regular licensing rounds.
Eyesan also disclosed that the Commission would launch its 2026 licensing round next month, following previous rounds held in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
She said the most recent licensing round attracted significant investor interest, with 37 of the 50 assets offered taken up.
The NUPRC chief said attracting more investment into gas would also require resolving challenges surrounding domestic gas pricing to create a commercially sustainable market for producers and consumers.
On infrastructure, Eyesan said increased government investment in recent years was helping to unlock Nigeria’s gas potential by expanding facilities required to transport the commodity to domestic and regional markets.
She said extending gas infrastructure to other West African countries could help address energy poverty while supporting the shift away from biomass and other high-polluting fuels towards lower-carbon energy sources.
Eyesan also opposed the idea of adopting a uniform pathway to net zero emissions across Africa, noting that differences in countries’ resource endowments, economic conditions and development priorities meant that each country would require an approach suited to its circumstances.
