By Faridat Salifu
Nigeria is on the verge of a historic milestone as Riverside LNG, based in the country, is currently in discussions to supply gas to South Africa, potentially marking the first-ever gas deal between the two nations.
Bloomberg reports that Riverside LNG is aiming to secure a gas supply agreement in the first quarter of 2024.
David Ige, the CEO of Riverside LNG, speaking to news men in Abuja recently stated, “There’s a massively evolving gas market in the region, anything around 3,000 nautical miles of Nigeria.
“So that covers southern Africa, western Africa, all to northwest Europe and to the Caribbean and South America broadly.”
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Earlier this year, the company forged a gas-export partnership deal with Johannes Schuetze Energy Import AG of Germany and is actively seeking opportunities on the continent, with a focus on South Africa.
Ige revealed, “We’d probably very early in the year close out another segment of the market, an off-take for South Africa.”
While refraining from disclosing specific details about the discussions with South African counterparts due to confidentiality clauses, Ige also mentioned that the company is exploring potential opportunities in Liberia and Cameroon.
Notably, Nigeria’s LNG exports totaled approximately 14.7 million mt last year, and have reached 12.5 million mt this year so far.
In 2023, Spain emerged as the largest importer of Nigerian LNG, with imports of 3.3 million mt, followed by Portugal at 1.4 million mt, and China at 0.9 million mt, based on data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
