GE taps into Nigeria’s gas-fired power segment, plans gas turbines assembly next year
Leading United States multinational energy group, General Electric (GE) has concluded plans to launch a gas turbine assembly plant in Nigeria next year as part of its drive to tap into the growing demand for gas-fired power plants in West Africa.
Chief Executive Officer of GE Nigeria, Mr. Lazarus Angbazo, had said late last week the company had invested over $100m in the plant before now.
He said the construction work on the plant, which is located in Calabar, Cross River State, would be completed in December this year preparatory to resumption of operations early next year.
Analysts say the scheme will raise total power on national grid and deepen stability within the region of distribution.
The scheme will rely on the abundant gas reserve, which is largely untapped to drive the project.
Only last week, Reuters quoted the US company as saying by email that operations would start at the plant in the first quarter of next year.
Business Hilights recalls that federal government had privatised power sector in 2013, with the aim of ending decades of blackouts, which have hampered economic growth, but the deal is still not working as expected.
Most of the plants it sold were gas-fired, operating below capacity due to inadequate gas supply.
Currently, demand for gas in the country was estimated to rise to three billion standard cubic feet per day by 2017 from 1.2 billion scf per day in 2015, 10 times the 300 million scf of eight years ago.
Nigeria is said to be seating on a proven gas reserves at 187 trillion scf, making the country, ninth largest deposit owner globally.
GE has made a bid for a $2bn railway project to connect Nigeria’s northern cities to the south of the country and could expand its plant to include locomotive assembly.
Angbazo had in an interview weekend said “We are already in talks with major haulage companies in the country to secure their buy-in on the project”.
