Indigenous Firms Link Gas Growth To Market Liberalisation, Bankable Projects

Indigenous energy companies have linked Nigeria’s ambition to build a thriving gas economy to full market liberalisation, transparent commercial frameworks and bankable projects that assure investors of predictable returns.

The chief executive officer of Falcon Corporation, Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, and the acting managing director and Gas Asset Manager at Neconde Energy Limited, Chichi Emenike, made the position at separate industry engagements, stressing that gas remained central to Nigeria’s industrial growth, energy security and economic prosperity.

Joe-Ezigbo spoke while receiving a Long Service Partnership Award from NNPC Gas Marketing Limited (NGML) in recognition of more than 20 years of collaboration between the two organisations. She said Falcon regarded its investments and operations in the natural gas sector as a contribution to national development, adding that expanding gas utilisation was critical to strengthening industries and supporting the country’s economic aspirations.

“At Falcon, we regard our gas footprint and investments as a national service first. Gas is central to Nigeria’s industrial growth, energy security and prosperity,” she said.

She added that Falcon would continue working with NGML to deepen gas utilisation and expand opportunities across Nigeria’s gas industry.

“Together with NGML, we will keep working to deepen and grow the gas business and the wider industry in Nigeria, for the benefit of the nation and its people,” she said.

Presenting the award on behalf of NGML’s managing director, Declan Nwokoro, deputy manager, Marketing and Market Expansion, South-West Zone/Region, Peter Kwaji, described Falcon Corporation as a dependable partner whose performance had contributed to the success of the relationship.

He said Falcon’s transparency, accountability, commitment to safety and dedication to growing gas utilisation had established the company as one of NGML’s leading and longstanding customers.

“For over two decades, Falcon Corporation has been a dependable and forward-looking partner. Their consistent performance, transparency, accountability, commitment to safety, professionalism, and dedication to growing gas utilisation has made them one of our leading and long-standing customers,” he said.

Kwaji added that the award acknowledged a partnership that had delivered value to both organisations, expressing optimism about further growth and collaboration.

In her response, Joe-Ezigbo expressed appreciation to NGML for its support and confidence in Falcon Corporation over the past two decades.

She noted that sustaining a partnership for more than 20 years required commitment from both parties, crediting the organisations and their employees for maintaining the relationship.

“We are deeply honoured by this recognition. No partnership endures for over 20 years without commitment on both sides, and we thank NGML for the support, confidence and collaboration that have helped our partnership and our business thrive,” she said.

She described the award as a shared achievement that reflected the dedication of the people who had contributed to the partnership’s success.

The recognition also builds on Falcon Corporation’s earlier acknowledgement by NGML as one of its leading customers, highlighting its consistent performance in the domestic gas market.

Falcon Corporation reaffirmed its commitment to working with NGML and other stakeholders to promote the sustainable development of Nigeria’s natural gas sector.

Similarly, the Acting Managing Director and Gas Asset Manager at Neconde Energy Limited, Engr. Chichi Emenike, says Nigeria’s quest to build a thriving gas economy will remain stalled unless government liberalizes pricing and creates a truly bankable, paying gas market that guarantees returns for investors.

Engr. Chichi Emenike, who spoke during a panel session with the theme “Market Liberalization: Performance, Public Value & Commercial Opportunities” at the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria, NAEC, Energy Conference 2026, said investors are not asking for super-profits, but for reasonable, predictable returns.

“No investor is doing Red Cross. No investor is doing charity. Everybody doing investment expects to recover principal plus X,” she said.

She added: “If you do your economics and expect payback in 5 years, you should be protected to get it in 5 years plus X. If you don’t have a bankable paying market, that 5 years becomes 7 years, then 10 years.”

According to Emenike, Nigeria’s domestic gas market is not yet ready to attract the scale of capital needed for its Decade of Gas ambition. The biggest constraints, she noted, are infrastructure deficits and price controls.

“The market today is not particularly ready. The biggest gap is infrastructure. There are not enough pipelines, and the market is not well-catalogued,” she said.

She explained that the industry is trying to cope with alternatives like Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, and Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, for last-mile delivery, but even those options remain a challenge because most of the gas is still stranded in the ground.

Producing gas, she stressed, is a capital-intensive, dollarised operation. From drilling deep wells in the Niger Delta, to laying pipelines, to building processing facilities that strip gas into dry gas, LPG and condensates, every step requires massive investment.

She stated: “Funding in the gas market is contingent on a bankable market. You want paying customers.

“Yet, despite this huge cost profile, the government still seeks to dictate the price at which gas is sold, without regard for how the investor sourced funding, the tenure of loans, or the foreign exchange exposure.

“The government doesn’t know where the investor borrowed money from, what the tenure is, whether it’s 5 years or 16 years, or who funded it. Everything in gas operations, from drilling to maintenance, is dollar-denominated. There is hardly any input sourced locally.”

Engr. Emenike called for full liberalization of the gas market, noting that what has been done so far with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and other reforms is helpful but insufficient to change investor behaviour from risk-aversion to business confidence.

“The market still needs to be fully liberalized. What has been done so far helps investors start behaving like business people, not like people running away because they are scared,” she said.

Her position aligns with growing industry consensus that creating bankable projects, with transparent contracts, clear offtake frameworks and payment security, is essential to unlock capital, expand energy access, and drive Nigeria’s energy transition.

“Gas is revenue, gas is jobs, gas can guarantee us economic security, but that will only happen if we have a paying market,” Emenike said.

The NAEC Energy Conference 2026 brought together policymakers, regulators, and operators from oil, gas, and power and provided strategies for the sector’s sustainable growth.

Other members of the panel include , Chief Tunji Oyebanji , Former Chairman of MEMAN, Mr. Clement Isong, CEO, Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria(MEMAN), Emmanuel Omuojine, Managing Director of Rainoil Limited and Engr Emeka Ene, Chairman, Oida Energy Group who moderated the session