Newly commissioned Delta State gas gathering facility to contribute $240m to Nigeria’s GDP annually

By Obiabin Onukwugha

The newly commissioned gas gathering facility in Kwale, Delta State, will contribute about $240million annually to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), thus contributing to the economic prosperity of the country.

The facility will provide a proximal location for gas producers in the cluster to deliver their gas resources via pipeline connections with distances ranging from 3km of Ebendo to 21km of Matsogo.

During its first four years of operations, the facility will contribute to Nigeria’s GDP through trunk line tariffs, liquid product sales to off-takers and other infrastructural tariffs.

The commissioning of the facility is coming after over 60 years of flaring gas from oil fields by oil multinationals operating in Nigeria.

According to the Nigerian Gas Flare Tracker, Nigeria’s flared gas between 2020 and 2024 is valued aat $1.9billion.

It said during the period, 595.1 million standard cubic feet of gas were flared in Rivers, Delta, Imo, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Anambra, Abia and Lagos States.

The gas gathering facility in Delta State is said to hoise a 300 million standard cubic feet.

The facility constructed by Nedogas Development Company Limited, in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, was commissioned by the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, recently.

According to the federal government, the project was borne out of the stranded nature of the associated gas resources in OML 56 as there was no evacuation pipeline to link gas resources to the Nigeria gas pipeline network from which such gas could be monetised.

Now commissioned, the facility is expected to end gas flaring and convert environmental pollutants into products of value.

Speaking during the commissioning, Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, noted Nigeria’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2060.

Ogbe said Nigeria is serious about the flares out programme and delivering on the COP 26 commitments on reducing emissions,

The NCDMB Executive Secretary highlighted the significance of the Kwale Gas Gathering facility project, sayjng it was designed to monetise natural gas from fields through gas gathering, compression, injection and metering infrastructure.

“The Kwale Gas Gathering facility is tied to the Nigerian Gas Infrastructure-owned 48-inch OB-3 gas trunkline. It allows companies in the area to end routine flares and gather and inject the gas for economic uses and to reduce flaring,” he said.

On his part, Chairman of Nedogas, Mr Emeka Ene, expressed satisfaction that the project was completed despite all initial odds.

He described the facility as a modular project, noting that Nigeria can end gas flaring by replicating the facility in the over 100 gas flaring sites in the country.

Declaring the facility open for business, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, called on players in the oil and gas industry to come up with new ideas and help in transforming flared gas into valuable products.

The World Bank describes gas flaring as the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction.