Nigeria has supplied approximately 68 percent of all gas volumes transported through the West African Gas Pipeline since the infrastructure became fully operational in 2011, as cumulative deliveries across the corridor reached 613.7 million MMBtu, cementing the country’s commanding role in the sub-region’s energy supply architecture.
The figures were presented at a ministerial meeting of the West African Gas Pipeline Committee held in Abuja, where Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo, chaired proceedings and described the pipeline’s performance as having moved well beyond initial projections to deliver tangible and measurable results for the sub-region.
Ekpo highlighted that in 2025 alone, the pipeline transported 80,023,582 MMBtu of natural gas, representing a 22 percent increase over the previous year, with Nigeria supplying the bulk of volumes delivered to downstream markets in Benin Republic, Togo, and Ghana.
He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to strengthening the legal and institutional framework governing the pipeline, including ongoing amendments to the West African Gas Pipeline Act at the National Assembly to align domestic legislation with evolving regional realities.
West African Gas Pipeline Company Managing Director Abiodun Bodunrin reported that operational performance remained strong, with gas deliveries in 2025 rising approximately 23 percent compared to 2024 and system reliability holding at around 99 percent. He also noted that gas supplied through the pipeline to Ghana alone between 2011 and 2025 generated approximately $3 billion in savings compared to the alternative of using liquid fuels for power generation.
However, Bodunrin flagged financial sustainability as a growing concern, disclosing that unsecured overdue invoices exceeded $50 million as of late March 2026, a situation he warned threatened investor confidence and the long-term resilience of the regional gas market. Looking ahead, WAGPCo is targeting an additional 100 million standard cubic feet per day in capacity utilisation in 2026, representing a 45 percent increase over 2024 levels, supported by ongoing transmission upgrades and efforts to secure firm supply and offtake commitments.
West African Gas Pipeline Authority Director General Chafari Hanawa confirmed that the pipeline’s growth trajectory had been consistent, with volumes rising more than 153 percent from 30 million MMBtu in 2011 to 80 million MMBtu in 2025, the highest annual figure since operations commenced. She added that the system achieved a reliability rate of 99.8 percent in 2025 and could exceed current throughput levels in 2026 if supply conditions remained favorable.
On the financial side, Hanawa noted that corporate income tax remittances from WAGPCo jumped from over $12 million in 2024 to more than $32.8 million in 2025, a 156 percent increase. She identified increased gas supply, improved payment discipline across the value chain, and the completion of legislative amendments in member states as the critical priorities needed to sustain and build on the pipeline’s performance.
An ECOWAS Commission representative described the pipeline as one of the clearest expressions of regional integration in West Africa, noting that it had evolved beyond being a physical asset to become a strategic community instrument enhancing energy security, supporting electricity generation, and deepening economic interdependence among member states.
