- Says gas flaring will soon become history
Sylvester Idowu in Warri
The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru Saturday inaugurated Egbaoma Gas Processing Plant (EGPP), which cost a whopping sum of $60 million.
With the inauguration, Baru assured that gas flaring would soon become a history in the country, disclosing that the federal government “is seriously working out plans to commercialise flared gas in the country.”
He gave the assurance at the unveiling of the gas plant at Ebedei, Ukwani Local Government Area, Delta state. The gas plant is currently operated by PNG Gas Limited, a subsidiary of Gas Train Limited.
At the inauguration, the group managing director disclosed that the corporation “is aggressively pursuing growth in domestic gas supply capacity from the current 1.7 billion standard cubic feet per day to 5 billion standard cubic feet per day in the medium term.”
He noted that the new Gas Flare Regulations, which the federal government issued in 2018, “is aimed among other things to reduce the environmental impact caused by natural gas flaring in the country.
In no distance time, the group managing director disclosed that the country “will soon start seeing results of the federal government’s efforts.”
Baru, therefore, directed all gas operators, whose assets are located with the area, “to ensure that gas is made available to the EGPP in order to maximize the plant’s capacity particularly in the Niger Delta.
He, also, disclosed that plans “are ongoing to expand the gas pipeline infrastructure. The expansion includes the Obiafu-Obrikom to Oben (OB3) gas pipeline which is less than 5 kilometres to Egbaoma Gas Plant.
“It can serve as a major evacuation artery of the dry gas produced from this plant to the market. I also use this medium to assure Deltans and Nigerians that the journey to effective monetisation of our vast gas resources for sustainable economic growth and complete end to gas faring is underway and the future is bright.”
Chairman of Owel-Linkso Group and operator of PNG Gas Limited, Engr. Charles Osezua urged the NNPC to facilitate collaboration between gas producers and gas processing plants in the country to ensure that the environmental impact of using natural sources reduced.
Osezua, who is director of PNG Gas Limited, said this “will enable the objectives of the gas industry to be achieved. All these producers are your partners. Use your office to bring us together to do what is best in our country, instead of duplicity of plants.
“NNPC should midwife, create the environment to make it possible for the likes of us to invest, so that the objectives of the gas sector can be achieved for the benefits of our country”, he said.
