Nigerian oil companies strike deals with flare-gas to reduce emissions and boost energy
Heirs Energys, a Nigerian oil company and the state-owned NNPC announced on Wednesday that they had signed agreements to capture and monetise the gas that is otherwise wasted by flaring. Flaring is the act of burning fuel in the open.
Nigeria has the largest gas reserves in Africa and relies on gas to fuel industrial growth and reduce emissions. The Decade of Gas is a policy that aims to increase domestic gas supply, reduce flaring, and expand LNG exports. Recent World Bank data shows that flaring is expected to increase by 12% between 2024 and 2025.
The deals are part of an effort by Nigerian operators to reduce greenhouse gases emissions and increase domestic supply. They cover approximately 18 million standard cubic foot per day (MMscf/d), across Oil Mining Lease 17 operated by Heirs Energies.
According to government data, Nigeria burned?gas worth $1.05billion last year. This is a practice where gas is not captured or used for power generation. Instead, it's burnt off. The result was an estimated 16m tonnes of CO2.
Gas is at the core of Nigeria's journey to development, said Heirs Energies CEO Osa Igiehon. "We are?converting waste into valuable, strengthening domestic energy supplies and supporting responsible operations in OML 17".
Analysts point to infrastructure gaps, payment risk in the?power market, and financial constraints following divestments of international oil companies as obstacles to progress in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government has set targets for decarbonisation and relaunched the gas flare commercialisation program, but its execution has been uneven.
This week, Renaissance Africa Energy (which bought Shell's assets onshore in Nigeria) launched a project to reduce flares. The project aims to collect associated gas from Niger Delta fields and feed it to the Nigerian domestic network as well as Nigeria LNG Bonny.
The project is expected to add 100 MMscf/d. (Reporting and editing by Isaac Anyaogu, Alexander Smith)
(source: Reuters)
