LAGOS SEPTEMBER 5TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said his administration will explore avenues to harness the more than 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the state.
The governor who assured investors of his commitment to diversifying the state’s economy to speed up the prosperity agenda of his administration, stated that with the natural gas that abounds in the three senatorial districts of the state, efforts would be made to reduce gas flaring with its attendant health and environment hazards.
He spoke on Monday (05/09/16) when the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Lulu Mnguni led the management team of LNG Technology and IDC groups to pay him a courtesy call in Asaba.
According to Governor Okowa, “Delta State is a gas rich state with proven reserve of 25 trillion cubic feet; private sector partnership will be beneficial to all of us, as gas is a cleaner and cheaper form of energy, we will link up with the Minister of State for Petroleum on this and work out a beneficial public private partnership.”
“It is unfortunate that we still flare associated gas in the country, Delta State has the very high amount of natural gas deposits in the three Senatorial Districts, I believe partnership in that area will be a win-win situation because, our natural gas is yet untapped and this may be a way out of the global energy challenge,” the governor submitted.
He noted that it was a good development that many South African companies have shown commitments towards investing in the agricultural, health and now energy sectors of the state.
The governor thanked Mr. Mnguni for encouraging South African investors to invest in Delta State assuring, “we will cooperate with you and provide an enabling environment for these investments to thrive”.
Earlier, Mr. Mnguni, the South African High Commissioner, has informed Governor Okowa that they were in the state to explore ways to help diversify the state’s economy and seek for useful partnership that would be beneficial to both Nigeria and South Africa.
In his address, Mr Zazi Diadia, the Chief Executive Officer, LNG Technology, explained that the company wants to explore ways of utilising the huge gas deposits in the state for energy generation and to power transportation, adding that an export terminal would be built to transport some of the gas to generate revenue for the country while the Executive Assistant to Governor Okowa on Investment, Mr Paul Nma said, “these investments are targeted at massive job creation for Deltans.”
According to Mr Nma, “it is good that our Governor has opened the door for investors and we believe that it will ensure speedy development of our state and also, lead to speedy delivery of the electoral promises of the governor.”