In an effort to further increase energy independence in light of the Ukraine war, Poland signed a gas deal with Nigeria after Polish President Andrzej Duda made the first visit to Nigeria by a Polish head of state in 60 years.
The visit appeared to be focused on the energy crisis caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine.
After his meeting with Nigerian President Muhammad Buhari, Duda told reporters that “from an energy security standpoint, today’s talks are important with regard to the supply of LNG gas and oil to Poland and the EU.” He said that Nigeria is a country well-endowed with these resources and that some of these resources have already reached Poland.
Duda confirmed that Poland wanted to increase cooperation with Nigeria, with news portal The Africa Report writing that Poland and Nigeria have reached an agreement regarding supplies of gas to Poland.
Nigeria’s oil minister, Timipre Sylva, told the African portal that his country was trying to position as a dependable supplier to Europe. He revealed that Nigeria was working with Poland on the creation of the Trans-Saharan pipeline, which is set to transport gas from Nigeria to Algeria, and then onward to Europe.
Poland has already been active over the past seven years seeking to diversify its gas supplies. It has built interconnectors with other European states, has imported LNG from the U.S. and Qatar, and constructed the Baltic Pipe to have access to the North Sea gas fields. As a result, the country was able to resist the Russian demand for Poland and other EU states to pay for Russian gas with rubles and has stopped importing Russian gas altogether.
