Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — Seplat Energy Plc says it is considering putting funds down to expand into the Compressed Natural gas, CNG, drive for vehicles, which the Nigerian government is spearheading.
The Nigerian independent energy company said it was rising to the challenge of energy deficit in Nigeria through its new critical projects, which are capable of taking the company’s gas processing capacity to 850 Million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd) consolidating the company’s position as a leading gas supplier to the Nigerian market.
The Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Energy, Mr. Roger Brown, said this while delivering a keynote address at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigerian Council’s 47th Nigeria Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE) in Lagos.
Brown, who was represented by the Director New Energy, Seplat Energy, Mr. Okechukwu Mba, spoke on the Conference theme: “Petroleum Industry Value Chain Optimization: The Inevitability of Midstream and Downstream Development”.
He said the company’s new $700m ANOH gas project in Imo State, with a capacity of 300mscfd of gas in addition to Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, will greatly boost domestic gas supply.
“Also completing a new 85mscfd gas plant in Sapele Delta state expected to come on stream by Q4 this year. These new projects bring Seplat Energy’s gas processing capacity to 850mscfd, consolidating our position as a leading gas supplier to the domestic market,” he noted.
He said Seplat Energy is also looking to invest in Compressed Natural gas, CNG, projects in support of the government’s CNG initiative, adding that: “When we receive approval for the MPNU transaction, we intend to promptly develop the significant gas resources in the asset to further enhance Nigeria’s energy security.”
Currently, the country is experiencing insufficient supply of electricity from the national grid (about 4GW daily); very low electricity usage per-capita (with some Nigerians with no access to energy); insufficient supply of gas to some power plants; and with a bulk of electricity used in Nigeria generated off-grid at two or three times the cost of generation using gas turbines.
Mba said: “We need to develop our abundant gas resources and deliver sufficient gas to the power sector for energy security. Gas is an affordable and reliable source of energy. Incentives provided in the recent Executive Orders as well as recent review of Domestic Gas Delivery Obligation, DGDO, gas prices are commendable.
“Current reforms in the power sector need to be sustained like tariff increase, bilateral power trading between power generation companies (GenCos) and power distribution companies (DisCos). Key gas infrastructure like the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3), The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipelines, and so on, should be delivered.”
