Production of natural gas experienced a decline last year, despite the injection of an N250 billion intervention fund into fifteen companies, as revealed by findings from InfoStride News. In collaboration with KPMG, the Energy Institute’s industry report disclosed a 4-billion cubic feet meter reduction in Nigeria’s natural gas production between 2021 and 2022.
The country’s gas production had been steadily increasing, reaching 39 billion cubic feet meters in 2012 and growing to 49 billion cubic feet meters by 2020. However, it took a sudden downturn to 45 billion cubic meters in 2021 and further dropped to 40 billion cubic meters last year.
The report highlighted this development, underscoring the persistence of the decline despite the Federal Government’s N250 billion intervention fund through the Central Bank of Nigeria. Out of this fund, N130 billion was disbursed to 15 companies for the construction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) conversion centers.

The National Gas Expansion Program (NGEP), initiated by the Federal Government, aimed to promote CNG as the preferred fuel for transportation and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as the preferred fuel for domestic cooking, captive power, and small industrial complexes.
Following the NGEP launch, the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced the N250 billion intervention facility to stimulate investment in the gas value chain, aligning with efforts to boost financing in critical sectors of the economy.
The fifteen companies that received a combined N130 billion include Dangote Oil Refinery, Nipco Gas Ltd, Nipco Plc, Hyde Energy Ltd, Lee Engineering and Construction Company, Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE, Transit Gas Ltd, Almalgamated Oil Company Nig Ltd, First Modular Gas Systems Ltd, NOVAGAS Ltd, Greenville Liquefied Natural Gas Company, AP LPG Limited, MOB Integrated Services Limited, Delta State Government, and Gas Nexus Ltd. These entities are set to face the Senate Committee on gas, chaired by Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, to provide progress reports, project locations, and current project statuses.
In response to the situation, Chinedu Okoronkwo, the President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, expressed dissatisfaction with the exclusion of his members from the loan. He claimed that if his members had access to the funds, they could have converted over one million vehicles to CNG models by now.
Okoronkwo lamented, “None of my members got a kobo from the money. If such funds were given to the right people, by now, many stations would have commenced the CNG conversion centers, and more than one million cars would have been converted.”
As of August, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative stated that Nigeria needed $20 billion annually to achieve the desired gas expansion plan, essential for bridging the country’s gas infrastructure gap.
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate