Natural gas can be key driver in West Africa’s industrialisation – Axxela

Axxela Limited, a gas & power portfolio company, has underlined its commitment to the region’s industrialization through the build out of its natural gas infrastructure. 

Speaking at the recently held Ghana Gas Forum (GGF) in Accra, Ghana, Tunde Baba-Agba, Axxela Head of Sales and Marketing, said: “Natural gas is now highly regarded as a key resource of the energy sector, and a key component geared towards value creation for West Africa’s economies. 

“We’re confident that our strategic initiatives and the expansion of our operational footprint particularly within the virtual pipeline, gas processing and distribution, and embedded power spaces will help unlock the vast potential within important economic clusters across the region.”

 

A Helios Investment Partners LLP portfolio company, Axxela is a designated natural gas shipper on the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). The company is also the pioneering private sector-led developer of natural gas distribution in Nigeria, delivering at peak 80 million standard cubic feet per day to over 175 industrial and commercial customers via a vast network of gas infrastructure. 

 

 

With over 280km in gas pipeline infrastructure built, Axxela provides unique energy solutions primarily through its main subsidiaries: Gaslink Nigeria Limited, Gas Network Services Limited, and Central Horizon Gas Company Limited.

 

 

Across our operations, the company has implemented Remote Monitoring and Control Systems, a robust security and real-time flow monitoring system across the network, which integrates software and hardware components for remote monitoring of the gas pipelines and manages gas distribution.

 

The system controls processes remotely, retrieves and processes data into useful information in seconds. It is able to process data faster for billing and invoicing. It also detects a shortage, absent supply or a pipeline that has been vandalised and can communicate this processed information in the form of reports, alarms, and alerts. It can manage these reports for speedy decision making and it is compatible with state-of-the-art gas distribution equipment. The company said it is developed to help serve its industrial customers.

 

Addressing regional collaboration and integration, Senam Gbeho, head of the executive committee, The Gas Consortium, organizers of the event, said: “By implementing the right policies and decision-making structures, the region’s gas resources can be the catalyst that eliminates the continent’s distressing poverty levels. With the combined population and market size of the respective countries within the region, a real opportunity exists to collectively leverage existing gas resources, pursuant of an industrialization for economic transformation and social welfare.”

 

Held annually, the Ghana Gas Forum is an indigenous knowledge resource suited to players in the natural gas industry with shared interests in policymaking and gas monetization efforts within Ghana and the sub-region. 

This year’s forum was themed ‘Promoting Dynamic Policymaking towards the Optimization of Regional Gas Resources’, with discourse centered on relevant gas policy issues that impact the sustainable development of the gas sector by promoting a cross-disciplinary understanding of policy tools and options.

 

“It is important that we preserve the value proposition of gas as a relative cheaper fuel compared to other alternatives. Consequently, our active participation in roundtables and continuous engagement with governments across the West African corridor is critical in the development of dynamic markets with proper commercialization framework and reliable gas supply in place,” remarked Baba-Agba.