• Saturday, September 07, 2024
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Nigeria’s gas output up 300mmscf/d as Kwale plant starts

Kwale Gas Processing Plant

Nigeria’s gas production is set to receive a significant boost with the official launch of the Kwale Integrated Gas Processing Plant (KIGPP) in Delta State.

The facility, which has a processing capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d), is expected to significantly contribute to the country’s domestic gas supply and drive economic growth.

The formal commissioning ceremony of the facility will be performed by the Rt. Ekperikpe Ekpo, minister of state for petroleum resources (Gas) on June 6, 2024.

The minister will be supported by the Sheriff Oborevwori, governor of Delta State, and Felix Ogbe, the executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

The KGG Facility was designed to handle stranded gas resources in Nigeria’s OML56 oil province by providing the opportunity for independent operators in the area to monetise natural gas from their fields through the gas gathering, compression, injection and metering infrastructure of the KGG for quick access to market.

The KGG hub, which has been tied-in to the NGIC-owned and operated 48-inch OB-3 gas trunk line, is now fully commissioned with gas injection capacity totaling approximately 50 MMscfd comprising of 20 MMscfd from the Nedogas Plant located 3km away in Energia’s Ebendo field and another 30 MMscfd coming from the Matsogo field operated by Chorus Energy Limited. Injected gas volumes are gradually and steadily being ramped up.

“The success story of NEDOGAS at Kwale, Delta State could be replicated in other oil- and gas-producing communities to minimise gas flaring. The model should be extended to other parts of the country where gas flaring is continuing. They have shown that with the modular system, we can quickly remove flaring from our operations in Nigeria,” Ogbe said.

This project represents a significant milestone in Nigeria’s decade of gas initiative as well as a major achievement in the quest to provide gas into the OB3 trunk line and monetize natural gas resources from the OML 56 producer cluster.

With the successful injection of gas from the Energia/Oando JV and the Chorus operated Ebendo and Matsogo fields respectively into the OB3, the KGG Facility is now poised to receive additional gas from nearby fields including those operated by First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN), Pillar Oil, and Midwestern Oil & Gas, all aimed at positioning KGG as a fully-fledged gas-gathering facility and hub with single point injection of up to 300 MMscfd of gas into the OB3 via the KGG tie-in.

The plan is to expand the capacity of the KGG facility to 600 MMscfd in the second phase.

In addition to the gas delivery obligations of the facility, the KGG will also be supplying the Delta State Economic Zone (DSEZ) from an integrated supply node within the manifold at the hub. NDCL is a 100% Nigerian company with a proven interest in innovating and deploying cleaner energy solutions for Nigeria’s growth and economic development.

“With the completion of the first phase of the KGG Facility, the proof-of-concept to readily monetize gas has now been established to the extent of eradicating the pain of seeing an invaluable resource being wasted”, Debo Fagbami, managing director of NDCL, said adding that rather than just being concerned about ending gas flaring, he sees opportunities to harness the potential of the flare sites from these oilfields which will ultimately convert a “wasting” resource into an economic asset used to generate cleaner energy.

NCDMB’s equity investment in NDCL is one of the strategic projects geared towards actualizing the Federal Government’s aspirations in key areas of the oil and gas industry.

Most of NCDMB’s third-party investments are targeted at actualising the Federal Government Decade of Gas programme.

The investments are in line with the Board’s mandate to build capacity and catalyze local projects in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as enshrined under the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.

Prior to now, NDCL’s precursor, Xenergi Limited, developed a novel approach to providing cleaner energy sources which resulted in the birth of Nigeria’s first inland Integrated Power, Propane and LPG Modular Plant in partnership with Energia-Oando JV, located in Ebendo in Delta State, Nigeria.

The Nedogas Natural Gas Fractionation Plant, produces high-quality LPG and propane and with the capacity to process over 25 MMSCFD of associated natural gas. The capacity of the plant is currently being expanded to 60 MMSCFD.

With an estimated 180 billion cubic feet of proven Natural gas reserves, Nigeria has the ninth largest concentration in the world, but sadly enough, the country continues to flare significant quantities of Associated Gas which has relegated the health and environmental well-being of Nigerians to the background for over 60 years.

Natural gas remains a relatively clean fossil fuel and represents a viable transition to renewable energy which plays a pivotal role in powering the growth of developing economies like Nigeria. The KGG facility is set to create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs for indigenes of the host and nearby communities.

Dipo Oladehinde is a skilled energy analyst with experience across Nigeria's energy sector alongside relevant know-how about Nigeria’s macro economy. He provides a blend of market intelligence, financial analysis, industry insight, micro and macro-level analysis of a wide range of local and international issues as well as informed technical rudiments for policy-making and private directions.