The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has announced plans to open a digital licensing round for gas distribution areas across the country before the end of 2026.
The NMDPRA Chief Executive, Rabiu Umar, disclosed this in his opening remarks at the just-concluded Gas Investment Forum 2026, themed ‘Positioning Nigeria as Africa’s Global Gas Powerhouse’.
Umar said the licensing round would follow the completion of a nationwide gas distribution gridding exercise expected in October, with investors expected to bid for licences covering the areas mapped out across the country.
He said, “Under the licensing round, applicants will bid for gas distribution licences in the gridded areas available across the country, in the same way licensees apply for oil mining licences in the upstream sector.”
Umar explained that the exercise was part of efforts to move the natural gas sector away from its current fragmented infrastructure and access system towards a truly open-access regime.
He added that Nigeria must convert its vast gas reserves into infrastructure capable of supporting economic activities, warning that reserves without infrastructure would remain untapped potential.
“Without infrastructure, reserves are potential. They will continue to have potential. With infrastructure, gas becomes productivity and national resilience, especially in the light of the global headwinds that we see.”
Umar maintained that gas infrastructure must facilitate the movement of gas from wellheads to processing plants, pipelines, power stations, industrial clusters, transport corridors and homes, as well as export terminals.
Describing the Federal Government’s Decade of Gas Initiative as “an engine of execution,” he stressed that the NMDPRA is accelerating licences and approvals for processing plants, pipelines, storage facilities, compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas projects.
The NMDPRA chief also welcomed discussions on floating LNG at the forum, saying Nigeria needed new initiatives as it deepened CNG and LNG penetration. Umar stated that the LNG market had also changed significantly in recent years, with the commodity no longer being associated solely with Nigeria LNG Limited.
“A few years ago, when we say LNG, everybody in Nigeria thought LNG meant NLNG, because that was the only company doing LNG. Today, the case is different,” Umar posited.
He said LNG is now being used domestically, while noting that the authority is working with other companies developing different LNG products.
On the planned open-access regime, Umar said access to pipelines should not be restricted to a few players.
He revealed that the NMDPRA is rebuilding the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code to establish clear and consistently applied rules for injecting gas into pipelines and taking it out, including rules relating to shrinkage factors.
According to him, the law provides that a company with a project, even one requiring a connection of only 20 kilometres, should be able to connect to an existing pipeline, with the NMDPRA responsible for ensuring such access.
Umar also disclosed that the regulator had signed a cooperation framework with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to address anti-competitive practices in the gas sector.
He emphasised that the framework would tackle price fixing, market sharing, abuse of dominance, capacity hoarding and discriminatory access while protecting investment. The ACE, however, said the regulator would not compel infrastructure owners to surrender capacity that is already fully utilised.
Speaking on investors’ concerns, Umar said, “Markets run on trust, and trust runs on discipline,” identifying credible contracts, transparent tariffs, accurate measurement and enforceable rules as key foundations for investment.
He said investors were particularly concerned about payment, supply reliability and pricing. Umar said the authority is developing measurable conditions for the full transition to a willing-buyer, willing-seller domestic gas market, adding that the transition would be assessed based on supply diversity, infrastructure access, contract performance, payment discipline, reliable market data and credible pricing.
Umar cautioned that the regulator had to balance the need to encourage investment with the affordability of gas, warning that excessive focus on investment could result in prices that consumers could not afford, while excessively low prices could discourage investment.
“Regulators are nothing but referees,” he declared.
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