The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is set to release the new gas pricing template any moment from now
The Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Engr. Farouk Ahmed announced this on Wednesday at the launch of the headquarters of “Decade of Gas” in Abuja.
He said the new gas pricing template would be made public after a review with the Adviser on Energy to President Bola Tinubu, Olu Verheijen.
He explained that the Authority has already engaged the relevant stakeholders like the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
He said, “We have been engaging with all the stakeholders in arriving at the domestic price for gas.
“Very soon after the review with the adviser today (yesterday), we will release the new price for the sector.”
Meanwhile, International Oil Companies have urged the federal government to prevail on power generation companies to repay the over $1bn gas legacy debts.
They said the payment for gas supplied to the power sector and commercial pricing of the product are necessary for the companies to produce more gas.
The Chairman/MD, Chevron, Mr. Richard Kennedy said the debts have to be paid to create confidence in the sector.
“The decade of gas is to ensure that we re-establish investors’ confidence in the industry. You do this by ensuring that all the legacy debts owed to the industry operators are paid and also ensuring that we have a cost reflective gas pricing”, he added.
In her speech, Verheijen, said the development of gas was a priority programme for the President Bola Tinubu administration.
She said: “We’ll work very closely in driving a lot of the sort of legacy issues that need to be resolved to enable investments in this sector.”
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda in his remarks said: “Now we must take this very seriously as our transition fuel and what that means is that we must be deliberate and how we engage with the private sector to put, especially infrastructure in place.
“Yes there are issues we need to look at starting with the issues of the battle of fees that we need to take care of as a government, so we need to sit down together to look at that. But the beauty is that the government is ready to talk and one of the very programs that will help us to achieve this is the Decade of Gas. “
The Decade of Gas policy is expected to deliver 10 projects that would significantly impact the economy.
According to the plan, the federal government’s target is to attract $14 billion in foreign direct investment, raise $12 billion in revenue through royalties and taxes, and create two million jobs by 2030.