In its bid to speed up the registration of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in Nigeria, the NNPC has engaged oil and gas industry stakeholders to brainstorm on the challenges of gas metering system in the country.
During a workshop held at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja recently, the Corporation- through its Renewable Energy Division (RED) – met with experts to share experience and ideas on how to implement and deploy appropriate metering in order to have an accurate data of gas flow.
Delivering a keynote address at the occasion, NNPC’s Group Executive Director, Engineering & Technology, Mr G. U Billy Agha said CDM was necessary to check gas flaring caused as a result of production from oil wells.
He noted that though the first CDM project to be registered in Nigeria is the NAOC/Okpai project, the Pan Ocean gas gathering project at Ogharefe in Delta State is most likely to generate the first carbon credit later this year.
“This feat was not achieved without some challenges, chiefly among them is the metering of gas,” the GED said.
According to him, greenhouse gas emission must be reduced by switching from gas-flaring to technology improvement and capture of the otherwise flared associated gas for further processing and utilization.
The flare fraction of Nigeria’s natural gas stream remains very high over the years; a development which the GED said is giving the Federal Government a cause for concern.
“The Federal Government is making deliberate efforts under the ambit of the Gas Master Plan to establish Central Processing Facilities (CPF) to enhance domestic gas utilization,” he stated.
He explained that currently, gas flare reduction efforts in the country are in areas of power generation, expansion of LNG projects, gas-to-liquids (GTL) initiatives, increased supply to industrial markets for energy and as feedstock.
He also commended some IOCs for their efforts in reducing gas flaring, adding that that such action will improve the immediate operating environment, ecosystem as well as enhance the economic activity of the people within the community.
Also speaking at the event, the Group General Manager, RED, Mrs A. M. Akindele said the essence of the workshop was to ascertain the credibility and accuracy of metering system presently being used especially as it concerns gas production.
“CDM projects present a lot of environmental and financial gains that could be harnessed for national economic benefits. This meeting was conceived as it became imperative to address the challenges with our present metering system,’ she said.
An accurate metering of associated gas , she said, is key to getting verified by the Designated Operating Entities (DOE) for final issuance of Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Board (UNFCCC EB).
At the workshop, which was well-attended across the industry and the Ministry of Environment, participants were enlightened on the Metering System and standards for the Oil and Gas Sector by Dr Jare Adejuwon, the Designated National Authority (DNA) on all CDM projects in Nigeria.
The CDM is one of the market-based mechanisms under the UNFCCC/Kyoto Protocol which provides for industrialized countries to invest in emission-reducing projects in developing countries and to use the CERs credits towards their own compliance with the emission limitation targets set forth by the Kyoto Protocol.
