Eurasia Review: Nigeria: An Alternative Energy Source For The European Union?

Recent events in Ukraine and the threat posed by the European Union’s dependency on Russian energy — Moscow supplies a quarter of Europe’s needs for natural gas, 80% of which runs through Ukrainian territory — has led Brussels, and EU’s city-capitals, to consider alternative sources towards alleviating the dependency and thus increasing Europe’s energy security. Beyond Russia and European indigenous production — which accounts for 33% of the EU’s usage of natural gas—Europe’s five largest partners are Norway (22%), Algeria (9%), Qatar (6%) and Nigeria (2%).1 One can notice that the small share of Nigerian natural gas out of the total European imports does not correspond to Abuja’s real capacity and potential in becoming a strategic energy partner.

In fact, the Nigerian government aspires to do just that. On the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the EU-OPEC energy dialogue, which took place in Brussels in June 2014, Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said “[t]he Federal Government restated its resolve to support the long term gas supply security for the European Union countries as part of measures to expand the nation’s gas market”.

This strategic approach towards the European market is, on the one hand, a sign that the government in Abuja recognizes Europe’s energy market potential — the EU’s aspiration to diversify energy sources has motivated such an approach — and, on the other hand, is a product of recent developments in the global natural gas market. Among these developments the United States’ shift to the domestic exploration of shale gas, and Mozambique’s affirmation as a major player in the natural gas market4 are key. Being one of the most promising African countries, in terms of energy, the fact that Mozambique is located on the Indian Ocean’s shoreline has driven Asian powers to increasingly focus their attentions towards Maputo.5 Also worth noting is that Asia currently represents Nigeria’s main natural gas export market. MORE