Environment minister expects Nigeria to comply with gas deliveries

Portugal’s minister of the environment, Duarte Cordeiro, reiterated on Wednesday his confidence that Nigeria, the main national supplier of natural gas, will meet the deliveries foreseen in the contracts.

At issue is a report published last week by Negócios, which said that Nigeria had failed to deliver natural gas to Portugal, which had led the secretary of state for energy, João Galamba, to travel to the African country, in order to guarantee contractual deliveries to Portugal.

“There was some misinformation here because it was understood that what were the deliveries that did not correspond to the contract, there was an understanding that they had happened recently. It is not a fact, they were happening from the end of last year until this year, they were distributed over time,” Duarte Cordeiro began by explaining at a press conference on the €3 billion package to support companies’ energy bills.

“We have confidence in Nigeria and in what is the fulfilment of the contracts they have with us. This is what we expect, and this is what we will seek to see happen,” he reiterated.

Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho said in Paris on October 6 that Portugal believes that Nigeria is making “every effort” to deliver the gas it has committed to and that contracts of this kind provide for “penalties and deadlines”.

“The commitments are of a commercial nature, and the contracts have their clauses that provide for penalties and deadlines, different elements that are in a relationship of this nature. Portugal has a diverse range of suppliers, and we believe that, on the Nigerian side, every effort will be made to keep its word,” the minister said when asked by journalists.