Nigeria's leading energy supplier, Seplat Energy expects to start its part of the Assa North-Ohaji South Gas processing project by the middle of next year, the company’s CEO Roger Brown said Nov. 9, as the independent energy firm seeks to tap the gas resources of Africa’s biggest oil producing country.
The Assa North-Ohaji South Gas project, or ANOH, a joint
venture with a unit of state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., will
process 300 MMcf/d of gas for the domestic market in the first phase, Brown
told reporters on the sidelines of Africa Oil Week in Dubai. The project will
also produce about 25,000 b/d of condensate, he said.
“Our design as such we have got a lot of land and we put the
infrastructure in such a way that we can scale it,” Brown said. “It all depends
on the demand. There is plenty of gas.”
Shell is also developing its side of ANOH, another 300
MMcf/d gas processing plant, which will also produce 20,000 b/d of condensate.
The ANOH project will come from a unitized field between
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria JV’s OML 21 and Seplat JV’s OML
53, according to Shell’s website.
Nigeria has the world’s ninth largest proven gas reserves,
at 200 Tcf, according to official estimates.
However, the country burns off vast amounts of gas produced
along with crude from mostly onshore oil fields in the Niger Delta, due to the
lack of infrastructure to make use of it.
More gas projects
Seplat, which remains focused on Nigeria, is leaning toward
increased development of gas as part of its environmental, social and
governance tilt.
“We see gas processing as a really great development for the
country because its strategic for the government,” Brown said. “Gas processing
will then allow that gas to go to industrial zones but also into power, which
will displace diesel.”
It may also look at LNG potential in the future, the CEO
said.
“If we acquire assets with enough gas reserves, we may look
at LNG,” Brown said. “We have export quality gas and one thing that we have
been looking at is exporting that gas on the West Africa gas pipeline.”
The company’s 2021 production outlook ranges between 48,000
to 52,000 boe/d, almost split equally between oil and gas.
Tougher financing
Financing for energy projects, however, is getting more
difficult as the climate change debate heats up globally.
“It’s an almost perfect storm we have at the minute because
capital is not going into the energy sector very easily,” said Brown. “We are
saying we are trying to balance here between environmental reduction and social
growth in the country in Nigeria, it’s critical we get both right.”
Nigeria has committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions
by 2060, while underlining the importance of gas as a transition fuel, President
Muhammadu Buhari said late Nov. 2 at the UN Climate Change Conference in
Glasgow, Scotland.
Buhari said gas should be embraced as “transitional fuel”
for Nigeria and other African countries, and not be demonized.
He admitted that his country will need a lot of financial
assistance to achieve this target, and he urged international leaders to help
fund renewable energy and gas projects in Africa.
NLNG, Seplat for 2021 AfriSAFE awards
Meanwhile, Seplat and Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Limited
(NLNG) are among the leading organisations to bag the Africa Safety Awards for
Excellence (AfriSAFE) taking place in Lagos on Friday, November 12.
AfriSAFE Chief Executive Officer, Femi Da-silva in a
statement said the companies will be honoured for their commitment to workplace
safety and environmental sustainability in their operations.
According to him, NLNG has been nominated in the AfriSAFE
CSR Award of the Year category and Seplat in the Merit Award category.
He said Cadbury-Mondelez International, First Bank, Ikeja
Electric, Eko DISCO, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Cummins West Africa,
Tropical General Investments (TGI) Group, were other leading organisations
nominated in various corporate categories of the prestigious award.
“These organisations have in one way or the other displayed
exemplary commitment to the protection of their staff and contractors and
impacting their operating environments positively.
“They deserve to be honoured to serve as an impetus for
other organisations to take workplace safety and wellbeing more seriously,” he
said, adding that various eminent personalities would also be honoured at the
award event scheduled for in Lagos.
“Chairman, BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu and former CEO of
NLNG, Tony Attah are expected to be honoured on the night,” he said, noting
that the award event would be hosted by A-list Nigerian comedian, Seyi Law
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