Russian gas giant Gazprom wants to invest at least $2.5 billion in the development and production of Nigeria’s natural gas reserves, the world’s seventh largest, a company source told Reuters.

The world’s largest gas firm is in talks with state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) on joint venture projects in Africa’s largest oil and gas producer.
“About $2.5 billion is understood to be the Gazprom investment programme for Nigeria,” said a company official working in Nigeria. “Ninety per cent of it is for developing the domestic gas production, processing and transportation.”
He declined to say when a final agreement may be signed with NNPC. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in September.
Some industry experts in Europe see Russia’s keen interest in the West African country as an attempt to get a stranglehold on Europe’s natural gas supplies.
Gazprom, which provides a quarter of Europe’s gas, temporarily cut off supplies to thousands of Europeans last month in a price dispute with Ukraine.
The firm will focus most of its initial investment on improving Nigeria’s domestic gas industry, which has operated far below its full capacity because of a lack of funds and regulation.