Implications of US and Europe Shale Gas on the Nigerian Gas Market

Abstract

In the past few years, the US in order to reduce her dependence on foreign energy had ramped up efforts towards the discoveries of new conventional and unconventional sources of energy. One of such breakthroughs is the discovery of vast deposit of shale gas. A 2011 study estimates the US shale gas deposit at 2, 170 TCF1. Encouraged by the success of the US, some European Nations are already prospecting for possible shale gas deposits in commercial quantity. These has some implications for the Nigerian Gas whose major markets are in the US and Europe. This paper intends to look at the near term and long term effect of the shale gas revolution in the US and Europe on the Nigerian gas and options for the Nigerian gas in order to guarantee its demand.