The Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF) has secured N1.6 trillion in private-sector investment over 20 months to expand and modernize Nigeria’s gas infrastructure, marking a significant step toward the country’s energy transition goals.
MDGIF Mobilizes Private Capital for Gas Projects
Oluwole Adama, executive director of MDGF, disclosed the investment figures during his keynote address at the 2026 Energy Conference organized by the Association of Energy Correspondents in Abuja. Represented by Elvis Duruji, director of Strategy, Research and Deal Origination at MDGIF, Adama said the funds are supporting 31 projects and 205 infrastructure assets across all regions of Nigeria.
He noted that the projects, once fully operational, have the capacity to deliver approximately 475 million standard cubic feet (scf) of gas daily to the domestic market. So far, 127 projects have commenced, with 10 already commissioned.
Adama emphasized that the leverage demonstrated by MDGIF aligns with its core mandate of using public funds to reduce investment risks and attract private capital. He stated, “The fund is a public fund, and we see platforms like this as an opportunity to come and account and state: ‘This is what we are doing.’”
According to Adama, MDGIF operates as a catalytic platform rather than a passive funding vehicle, designed to make projects bankable. He explained, “In MDGIF we make projects bankable even projects that may not look financially viable, but have national strategic importance when we subject them to our channel, we end up making them viable.”
The fund’s interventions have already mobilized private capital at about 2.4 times its own contribution, showcasing the effectiveness of its derisking model. Adama added, “As we speak, MDGIF has used its own fund to mobilize 2.4X of the private counterparties so we’ve been able to use the fund we have to trigger and reduce the barrier to an extent where we now have many other private investors coming to partner with MDGIF, and this is the success story.”
If fully executed, the projects in MDGIF’s portfolio could raise domestic gas supply by about 25%, based on current domestic production of roughly 1.9 billion scf daily. Adama highlighted major barriers to midstream investment, including high financing costs, infrastructure deficits, regulatory uncertainty, and technical and commercial risks.
On gas flaring, Adama revealed that MDGIF has partnered with four flare-out awardees whose projects, when operational, will monetize 444 million scf of gas daily that would otherwise be flared, while eliminating approximately 2,845 metric tonnes of emissions per day.
Among MDGIF’s flagship interventions is the 5 million scf mini-LNG plant by Topline Limited in Delta State, described as Nigeria’s first indigenous mini-LNG project. Adama noted that the project spent three years seeking financing before MDGIF’s equity intervention helped unlock an InfraCredit guarantee. He added, “That particular project had gone around looking for funds for 3 years, but couldn’t get any. But when they partnered with MDGIF, today that facility will be commissioned in the next 2 to 3 months from now.”
Other projects include CNG infrastructure developments involving 20 universities, Ibile Oil and Gas in Lagos, and Rolling Energy in Abuja. Adama stated that MDGIF’s ultimate objective is to absorb early risks in gas projects, making them attractive to lenders and private investors.
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NUPRC Chief Stresses Economic Value and Regulatory Certainty
Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, commission chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), emphasized that the starting point for sustaining investment in Nigeria’s petroleum industry is economic value. She remarked, “For me, the starting point is economic value. Nigeria has a significant petroleum resource base, but resources in the ground do not, by themselves, create prosperity.”
Eyesan noted that Nigeria averaged about 1.68 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensate in August 2026, with crude production meeting the country’s OPEC quota for the fourth consecutive month. She stated that this provides a stronger base for Nigeria’s production aspirations of two million barrels per day in the near term and three million barrels per day by 2030.
To achieve these targets, Eyesan said, Nigeria must bring viable shut-in volumes back online, reduce production losses, and ensure operators progress credible work programs. She emphasized that sustained investment will be critical to unlocking the next wave of production, adding that capital flows where opportunities are matched by clarity and certainty.
“Investors need to understand the rules and the timelines before committing long-term capital. This is why regulatory predictability and speed remain important to us,” Eyesan said, represented by Joseph Ogunsola, director of Surface Development at NUPRC.
Since 2024, the NUPRC has approved Field Development Plans representing over $57 billion in investment, while 22 major offshore projects expected between 2026 and 2030 carry an estimated investment potential of $30 billion to $50 billion. Eyesan stated, “The priority now is execution. Approvals and investment commitments are important, but their real value is realised when projects move and new volumes come onstream.”
The NUPRC is now focused on staying closer to projects, identifying bottlenecks, and resolving them early to keep investment decisions moving, while holding operators accountable for their commitments. Eyesan noted that investment is returning to parts of the industry where activity had slowed, and opportunities that had stalled several years ago are being reconsidered.
“We have to spend less time admiring the opportunity and more time converting it. Our role as regulator is not to stand in the way of investment neither is it to lower the standards required to protect Nigeria’s interest,” Eyesan said.
She added that sustaining investment also requires Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to remain competitive as investors increasingly consider the efficiency of resource development and production alongside project economics. The NUPRC’s Upstream Oil and Gas Decarbonisation and Sustainability Blueprint aims to integrate decarbonisation considerations into new developments at the Field Development Plan stage.
Operators are expected to consider energy efficiency, gas utilization, flaring, and emissions performance alongside technical and commercial fundamentals. This approach also covers existing assets through annual work programs, asset-specific sustainability plans, asset integrity, predictive maintenance, and energy optimization. Eyesan concluded, “Energy transition should not be viewed separately from the growth of Nigeria’s upstream sector. It is about getting more value from the resources we produce, reducing waste and ensuring that both existing assets and the next generation of Nigerian projects remain competitive.”
