ADIPEC opens with Bulgaria and Nigeria framing energy security as shared effort and gas-led growth

ADIPEC 2026 opened in Abu Dhabi on Monday, and two ministers used the first day to describe energy security in different terms, according to opening-day highlights published by the organisers.

Iva Petrova, Bulgaria's Minister of Energy, said: “Delivering energy security is not the ambition of a single nation; it is a shared regional effort that requires solidarity, committed leadership and infrastructure.”

Ekperikpe Ekpo, Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), said: “Natural gas is a critical asset that we intend to use for energy security and economic transformation...Nigeria is a gas nation. Across Africa, we produce the highest volumes.”

The organisers' highlights said industry leaders across the Strategic Conference examined the investments, infrastructure and technologies needed to build more resilient energy systems. The exhibition welcomed 2,260+ exhibiting companies, with zones covering AI, digitalisation, maritime and logistics, and low carbon and chemicals.

Bulgaria's regional argument

Bulgaria's Ministry of Energy published a press release on 3 November, in Bulgarian only, on Petrova's participation. According to the ministry, she said the situation today puts the urgent need for energy security in the foreground, meaning affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for citizens and economies.

The ministry's release also quoted her as saying Bulgaria has one of the best levels of connectivity in the region. It said this was the result not only of Bulgarian efforts but of partnership between countries in the region.

As examples, the ministry's release cited the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and the Vertical Gas Corridor. It described the corridor as a strategic project involving transmission system operators from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova, along with the recently joined North Macedonia and Serbia.

ICGB AD, operator of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector, said on 4 September that companies in the Vertical Corridor initiative signed a memorandum of understanding in Thessaloniki. It said the participants formally welcomed NOMAGAS of North Macedonia and Transportgas Serbia, expanding the corridor into the Western Balkans.

ICGB AD says the interconnector is 182 km long, with a technical capacity of 3 bcm/y and potential expansion of up to 5 bcm/y.

In July, the Bulgarian ministry said Bulgaria had put into operation the first completed looping, Kulata-Kresna, which it said opens the way for increased volumes of natural gas from Greece through Bulgaria to the north. Petrova said the Rupcha-Vetrino looping with Romania would be ready by the end of this year, according to the ministry.

Energy Connects, a platform run by ADIPEC organiser dmg events, reported on 2 November that for Bulgaria this means investing in connectivity, storage and nuclear power while using public investment to prepare projects for private capital.

Nigeria's gas case

Energy Connects reported that Ekpo said Nigeria's gas reserves rose from 209 trillion cubic feet in 2023 to 215 trillion cubic feet, and that domestic utilisation had increased dramatically.

According to the same report, he said Nigeria has a conducive environment for investment and invited investors to come and invest in the country.

Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources said in February that Ekpo described gas as the country's critical bridge fuel. The ministry said he linked it to expanded electricity access, industrialisation, energy poverty reduction and climate commitments.

The ministry also said that, according to Ekpo, gas fuels over 70 per cent of Nigeria's on-grid electricity generation. It said the government is strengthening the gas-to-power value chain through long-term supply agreements, infrastructure expansion and a National Gas Infrastructure Command Centre, recently approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Common ground

Both ministers tied energy security to infrastructure. Energy Connects quoted Al Mazrouei as backing the investment call, saying: “Invest, invest, invest in a resilient infrastructure. That’s what we need.”

The Stratawire did not attend the sessions. Quotations from ADIPEC come from material published by the organisers, and other material is attributed to its publishers.