President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday commissioned three gas infrastructure projects in Imo and Delta States.
The projects commissioned by the president include the ANOH-OB3 CTMS gas pipeline and ANOH gas processing plant in Assa Community, Ohaji/Egbema LGA, Imo State, and the AHL gas processing plant, two gas projects in Kwale in Delta.
The projects, being undertaken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and partners, are in line with the president’s commitment to leverage gas to grow the economy significantly.
The projects support the federal government’s effort to grow value from the nation’s gas assets while eliminating gas flaring and moving towards environmentally friendly energy sources.
According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), the projects will add 500MMscf/d gas production capacity to the country and also increase the available gas pipeline network by 23.3 kilometres.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said “Today, I have the singular honour to commission the expansion of the AHL Gas Processing Plant, the ANOH Gas Processing Plant and the 23.3Km ANOH to Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben(OB3) Custody Transfer Metering Station Gas Pipeline Projects in line with this administration’s resolve to provide energy for Nigerians, and to use our vast natural gas resources to transform Nigeria.”
He said the commissioning event is highly significant to the country as it demonstrates the administration’s concerted efforts to accelerate the development of critical gas infrastructures geared at enhancing the supply of energy to boost industrial growth and create employment opportunities and further prosperity.
He added that the projects are fully in line with the Decade of Gas initiative, and the federal government’s quest to grow value from the nation’s abundant gas assets while concurrently eliminating gas flaring and accelerating industrialisation.
“It is pleasing that approximately 500MMscf of gas in aggregate would be supplied to the domestic market from these two gas processing plants, which represents over 25 per cent incremental growth in our domestic gas supply.
“In practical terms, this is more gas to the power sector, gas-based industries and other critical segments of the economy. I therefore commend the strategic vision of the NNPC Limited and its partners Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company Limited (SEEPCO) and Seplat Energy Plc for this laudable and value-adding project,” Mr Tinubu said.
The president said from the outset, the administration has been very clear of its intention to leverage the virtually unlimited capacity of gas to drive economic growth.
He said aside from the presidential CNG initiative, which is aimed at moving the people of Nigeria away from petrol and diesel as vehicular combustion fuel, significant progress has also been recorded in incentivizing gas development through Presidential Executive Orders.
“I wish to assure the citizenry that indeed these are just the beginning, as the federal government is stepping up its coordination of other landmark projects and initiatives that will ensure the earliest realisation of gas-fueled prosperity in our country. Consequently, I wish to assure investors in the energy space that this is an investment enabling the government and we will not relent in facilitating the ease of doing business.
He explained that the theme of the commissioning “From Gas to Prosperity; Renewed Hope” must be adopted by all gas sector participants and would-be investors as a clarion call to ramp up efforts to accelerate investment and development of projects in the gas sector on a win-win basis.
“I would once again commend the efforts of NNPC Ltd, alongside SEEPCO and Seplat Energy, on this business partnership initiative and congratulate you all on the successful implementation of the three projects,” he said.
Mr Tinubu reiterated the federal government’s resolve to continue to provide support in deepening domestic gas utilisation, increasing national power generation capacity, revitalising industries and creating multiple job opportunities for economic growth.
Opportunities
Also speaking, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, said Nigeria is endowed with significant natural gas resources of over 209TCF of proven gas reserves, with the potential to grow to over 600TCF.
“As a commercial enterprise, these milestone projects present an opportunity to monetise our abundant natural gas resources, by expanding access to energy to support economic growth, industrialisation, and job creation.
“The three infrastructure projects will enable additional gas processing capacity and also increase the supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), thereby reducing the dependency on importation,” he said.
Mr Kyari said NNPC is currently executing several major gas infrastructure projects, such as the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline with the associated power plants, the full delivery of the wider OB3 project shortly and also progressing with other initiatives such as fertiliser and petrochemical plants, small and large scale LNG and floating LNG.
He said NNPC is executing a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) project aimed at providing a cleaner fuel to power our vehicles as a cheaper alternative to the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“We are also pleased to mention that in line with the just announced Presidential directive on the purchase of CNG-powered vehicles by institutions of government, and in furtherance of the overall objective of broadening CNG as an alternative fuel for automobiles, NNPC is deploying CNG delivery installations in our retail stations across the country,” he said.
Mr Kyari assured that the NNPC is committed to maintaining energy security by continuing to execute more strategic gas projects for the benefit of our country.
Increased Spending
In his address, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said Mr Timubu’s decision to eliminate fuel subsidies at the start of his administration has compelled increased spending in the upstream and midstream gas development, and the use of gas as an appropriate, more cost-effective, and cleaner alternative to diesel and gasoline.
Furthermore, he said in keeping with the climate control accord, this measure solidifies the use of gas as our transition fuel as we move the nation toward achieving green energy sufficiency by 2060.
“AHL Gas Processing Plant 2 (GPP – 2): AHL Limited, a joint venture between NNPC Limited and SEEPCO, is developing the AHL Gas Processing Plant, which will process 200MMscf/d of premium gas. In addition to producing over 160,000 metric tonnes of propane and 100,000 metric/tonnes of butane annually (MTPA), this plant promotes rapid industrialisation and reduces reliance on LPG import,” he said.
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