EU eyes gas supply agreement with Nigeria after fallout with Russia

The European Union has concluded plans to sign a gas supply agreement with Nigeria following a disagreement with Russia.

Moscow has aborted gas supply to the rest of Europe after the 27-member political and economic bloc condemned the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.

The Deputy Director-General, Department for Energy, European Commission in Brussels, Matthew Baldwin, stated this at a news conference on Friday in Abuja.

Members of the EU team to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to meet with top government officials and private sector players in Nigeria in the coming days.

Baldwin said the EU hoped to kick-start the partnership by the end of August, adding that it would create a long term partnership with Nigeria.

He said: “In summary, I am on a mission from Europe to try to deliver Liquefied Natural Gas today in the context of the NLNG partnership tomorrow with Nigeria.

“Europe is in a tight spot in relations to gas, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the instability in our gas market and the threat of cutting off supply altogether.

“So, we have launched the energy platform task force and the primary goal is to reach out to our reliable partners such as Nigeria to replace the gas from Russia with gas from reliable partners.”