15th April, 2014
Nigeria’s oil firm Seven Energy said on Tuesday it had secured $255 million in equity funding from global investors, including Singapore’s Temasek, to boost gas supply to the country’s ailing power sector.
Industry operators often attribute shortage of gas for the generating plants as a major cause of Nigeria’s under-performing power sector.
The company said in a statement that Temasek’s share of the funding was $150 million.
The IFC, an arm of the World Bank and the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund, invested $75 million and $30 million respectively.
“The investments will be in two tranches, the timing of which is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions in the investment agreements,” Seven Energy said.
It said the money would assist the company to develop its facilities so as to provide gas to the domestic market for power generation and industrial consumption.
“The group aims to capture the growing demand for gas and power as Nigeria’s industrial base grows and the liberalisation of the power sector spurs further investment in generating capacity,” it said.
The firm said it is currently involved in the building of two power stations with a combined capacity of 750 megawatts in southern Nigeria, adding that when operational they would add 20 percent to Nigeria’s current generation capacity.
Despite being Africa’s largest oil and gas producer, Nigeria currently generates about 3,000 megawatts of electricity, well short of what is required for a fast-growing nation of some 170 million people.
In comparison, South Africa produces more than 43,000 megawatts for a population a third of the size.