Nigeria, Germany agree deal on gas, renewable energy
Nigeria and Germany have agreed on a deal for Africa's largest oil producer to supply more gas to Germany while Berlin will also invest $500 million in renewable energy projects, Nigeria's presidency said on Tuesday.
Since he came to office in May, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been courting foreign investors to Africa's largest economy pointing to his reforms on fuel subsidies and currency controls as incentives.
Tinubu was in Berlin for the G20 Compact with Africa conference.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the gas deal was signed between Nigeria's Riverside LNG project, which works in the country's Niger Delta, and Johannes Schuetze Energy Import.
"The project will supply energy from Nigeria to Germany at 850,000 tonnes per annum, expanding to 1.2 million tonnes per annum," said David Ige, CEO of GasInvest, one of the Nigerian partners which signed the MOU.
The first gas is expected to leave Nigeria in 2026.
The statement said another MOU was signed for a $500 million commitment to e-energy projects in Nigeria, aiming especially at bringing more people into the formal economy.
Germany is also discussing an agreement with Siemens to help with Nigeria's electric power supply, which is unstable and a major burden for Nigerians and businesses.
Tinubu has also expressed interest in Siemens helping modernise and expand Nigeria's railway network.
When the Nigerian leader came to office, he abandoned a long-standing fuel subsidy that kept petrol prices artificially low, but had also cost the country billions a year to maintain.
Though a major oil and gas producer, Nigeria still imports most of its fuel needs because of a lack of working refinery capacity.
He also freed up the naira currency in a bid to help attract more foreign investors who were wary of the country's unwieldy, multi-tier exchange rates.
Government officials say those reforms are needed to help bring in more foreign currency in the long run, but Nigerians are also struggling with a weakened naira, a tripling of fuel prices and inflation of more than 27 percent.
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