Tanya Davidson
Port Harcourt — More than 100 gas-flaring sites across Nigeria could potentially be converted into electricity and liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, production projects, according to Energy Ventures BV, as investors seek to turn wasted gas into commercially useful energy.
The Dutch energy company said its proposed project in Rivers State, which will process about five million standard cubic feet of flare gas daily, is being developed as a pilot for demonstrating the technical and economic viability of capturing gas currently being wasted.
Chief Executive Officer of Energy Ventures BV, Herbert Okibe, said the company’s parent group was developing the project through Africa Gas Technology Company Limited to harness flare gas from HES Energy for power generation and LPG production.
“This is one of over a hundred projects in Nigeria that actually waste similar volumes of gas,” Okibe said.
“Nigeria is not unique to this problem. Nigeria is actually the seventh highest gas flaring country.”
The Rivers project is expected to convert about five million standard cubic feet of gas per day into electricity and cooking gas for communities around the project area.
Okibe said the wider opportunity was much larger than the Rivers pilot, given the number of sites where comparable volumes of gas are being wasted.
“What we are trying to do is convert waste gas to sustainable energy for customers who have been underserved in these areas,” he said.
He said the project could provide a template for deploying similar solutions at other flare sites, particularly where gas is currently being burned without generating economic value for nearby communities.
The company has secured environmental approval for the project and regulatory approval from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to establish the gas plant.
Okibe said the project had also received support from the Dutch and Nigerian governments, while PHED had given the company approval to engage the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, for the required electricity-generation permit.
The investment is expected to run into tens of millions of dollars, with funding anticipated from private and public sources, including the Dutch government and Nigeria’s Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, MDGIF.
For Okibe, the opportunity is not only commercial but environmental, particularly at sites where gas has been flared for decades.
He said gas had been flared at the Rivers project location for more than 60 years, with consequences for the surrounding environment.
“That’s 60 years of polluting the environment, emitting harmful gas to people that have caused air pollution and respiratory illnesses,” he said.
“What we are doing is a very small step in actually trying to correct that.”
Okibe said the project would therefore test whether flare gas that has historically represented an environmental liability can instead become a source of electricity, cooking fuel and investment.
Physical preparations, including fencing of the project site, have commenced, while the company awaits a construction permit.
This article was originally posted at sweetcrudereports.com
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