N671bn Gas Fund Unlocks N1.6tn Private Investment Across 31 Nigeria Projects

Nigeria’s Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund has deployed N671 billion in public capital to mobilise about N1.6 trillion in private investment across 31 gas projects.

The investments span 205 gas infrastructure assets across Nigeria and are expected to increase domestic gas supply as projects move into operation.

Oluwole Adama, Executive Director of the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, disclosed the figures at the 2026 Annual Conference of the Association of Energy Correspondents Abuja.

Adama, represented by the Fund’s Director of Strategy, Research and Deal Origination, Elvis Duruji, said the N671 billion committed by the Fund had helped attract private capital equivalent to about 2.4 times its investment.

The projects are expected to deliver approximately 475 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the domestic market when fully operational.

That would represent about one-quarter of Nigeria’s current domestic gas supply of approximately 1.9 billion standard cubic feet per day.

The additional supply is expected to support manufacturing, electricity generation, transportation and other industries that depend on reliable access to gas.

Nigeria holds more than 200 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, but inadequate processing, transportation and distribution infrastructure has constrained the country’s ability to translate those reserves into sufficient domestic energy supply.

The Fund was established to help close that infrastructure gap by providing financing support for commercially viable midstream and downstream gas projects and attracting additional private capital.

Of the infrastructure initiatives being supported, 127 have commenced project activities while 10 have reached commissioning.

The programme includes investments in compressed natural gas infrastructure as Nigeria expands the use of gas as an alternative transport fuel.

MDGIF has partnerships covering 20 CNG mother stations and more than 80 daughter stations, while another 75 daughter stations are being supported through an equipment-leasing arrangement.

The Fund is also supporting gas infrastructure at 20 universities and projects involving IBILE Oil and Gas in Lagos and Rolling Energy in Abuja.

Its investment portfolio extends to small-scale liquefied natural gas infrastructure.

A five-million-standard-cubic-feet-per-day mini-LNG facility being developed by Topline Limited in Delta State is among the projects receiving support.

The project had struggled to secure financing for about three years before MDGIF’s participation helped strengthen its financing structure and facilitate an InfraCredit guarantee.

Gas-flare commercialisation is another component of the investment programme.

MDGIF is working with four flare-out project awardees whose developments could monetise approximately 444 million standard cubic feet of gas per day that might otherwise be lost through flaring.

Those projects are also expected to reduce emissions by approximately 2,845 tonnes per day.

Despite the investment secured so far, financing costs, infrastructure limitations and project-development risks remain major obstacles to expanding Nigeria’s domestic gas industry.

Gas projects typically require substantial upfront capital while generating returns over longer periods, making access to affordable financing critical to their development.

MDGIF’s strategy is therefore structured around using public capital to improve project bankability and attract larger amounts of private investment rather than financing entire developments directly.

The N671 billion deployed against N1.6 trillion in private capital mobilised indicates that every N1 committed by the Fund has so far been associated with approximately N2.38 in private investment.

The ultimate impact, however, will depend on how quickly the 31 projects progress from financing and construction to commercial operation.

If the projected 475 million standard cubic feet of additional daily supply is delivered, the portfolio could materially increase the amount of gas available to Nigeria’s domestic economy while expanding infrastructure needed to commercialise the country’s large natural gas reserves.