The Federal Government has said more gas resources are being discovered offshore Lagos.

It also stated that the relative peace in the Niger Delta, coupled with the additional discoveries in Lagos, would boost Nigeria’s gas supply to the West African Gas Pipeline project.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who disclosed these on Tuesday at the West African Gas Pipeline Project’s Committee of Ministers’ Meeting in Abuja, said Nigeria, along with the partner countries, had nurtured the WAGP project and were looking at further addressing the challenges that had hindered the achievement of their set targets.

“I am pleased to be able to welcome you all at a point when the Niger Delta is stable and gas supply from Nigeria is becoming more assured, and when more gas resources are was discovered offshore Lagos, which could present more option of gas supply to the West African Gas Pipeline project,” Kachikwu stated.

The minister told his guests that the WAGP project was being celebrated all over the continent as the flagship project for the New Partnership for African Development, and called for the sustainability of the project through the cooperation of all parties.

The Managing Director, West African Gas Pipeline Company, Walter Perez, said although significant improvement had been recorded over the years in the firm, the collective effort of the committee was still required to attain the promise for further regional integration.

He stated that WAPCo had been able to upgrade its compressor, and that this led to a growth in its output from 70 million British thermal units per day to 85 million BTU per day in 2018.

Perez said, “However, the situation has significantly improved as a result of the work completed by WAPCo in 2018 to upgrade our compressor station in Nigeria to operate at reduced pressures. As a result of this, we have been able to demonstrate the capability to transport over 85 million BTU per day.

“In addition, this upgrade has allowed us to be more consistent in delivering gas to our customers despite variations in pressure at Itoki. With the imminent completion of critical infrastructure projects in Nigeria, it is our hope and prayer that force majeure will be lifted or the foundation value chain contracts restructured so that it will no longer be necessary to operate on a best endeavours basis.”

Perez told the meeting that Ghana had paid a significant portion of its legacy debt to WAPCo and additional payments were being made.

“I am happy to report that additional payments are currently in process. However, more work is needed to retire the debt. To this end, we are encouraged by the assurances given by the ministry that the legacy debt will be fully retired in 2018,” he added.