Experts harp on domestic gas utilisation

E XPERTS in the oil and gas industry have once again stressed the need for the Federal Government to promote investment in domestic gas utilization for the benefit of the country’s economy.

The experts converged at the 2017 Annual Oloibiri Lecture and Energy Forum organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) recently in Abuja and discussed good ideas that will make Nigeria go beyond the challenges and chart practicable and implementable guide towards the full scale utilisation of gas across all level and sectors in the country.

Dr Saka Metemilola, Chairman, SPE Nigeria Council, noted that the annual lecture which started in 1991, is SPE contribution to ensure that as a people and as a nation, Nigeria has made remarkable progress in oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

According to Matemilola, “we do not forget the humble beginning and historic moment when oil was found in commercial quantities through the first oil that was drilled by Shell in Ogbia, Bayelsa State in 1956. This lecture since its inception has focused on contributing to oil and gas policy development in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole and has attracted participation from the government, regulatory agencies, heads of industry, practitioners in all levels as well as key stakeholders from and within Africa.”

The SPE Chairman revealed that Nigeria at present rely on oil and gas revenue to the tune of about 90 per cent for its budget, in the face of the current depression in the price, the country did not think and ask itself how sustainable could the nation continue to rely on oil revenue.

From the statistics and custodian of Nigeria resource data base, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria has about 190 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and about 600 tcf prospective and unproven gas and the country is ranked 9th in the world in terms of the commodity. Nigeria has made big strides in reducing the amount of gas it flared from a very large number to about 40 per cent till date.

However, Nigeria has large population and it is yet to embrace fully the use of domestic gas, the country has nascent untapped, industrial as well as manufacturing capability that yearns for power. The country has huge reserves to supply this power and there are lots of opportunities for the country.

Philip Mshebila, General Manager, Gas, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), who represented his Managing Director, Osagie Okunbor, made it known that Nigeria has huge natural gas resources but on the other hand also, it has a massive demand in place.

“The huge population in the country is grossly under-serviced with energy. There is huge God-given resources of natural gas and on the other hand, there is huge population demand,” he said.

Mshebila added that there is the supply and demand aspect, therefore how will energy experts and operators connect the two aspects to make them work?

He asked “how will the industry brings its human capital, intelligence and creativity into ensuring that the demand and the supply are connected effectively and work sustainably?” The oil industry has the intellectual and technical capability to tackle the situation.

Mshebila noted that “there are many countries around the world that have experienced change quite recently and there are countries that used to be importers of natural gas that have suddenly become exporters. There are also exporters that have realized their demands and have started importing such as Egypt.

“Also, there are emerging countries like Mozambique and Tanzania that are finding their place in the arena of natural gas.”

This poses a question as to what Nigeria as a country is doing? Less than 50 per cent of the population actually have access to grid connected electricity and 83 per cent of business owners in Nigeria, consider lack of electricity as the biggest problem that faces their businesses.

Mshebila made a shocking revelation that “Nigeria has around 10 per cent of South Africa power generation even though the country has three times its population.”

He stated further that an aspect where the country has made a notable mark is the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) where Shell has 25.6 per cent interest. it is one company that has helped dealt with flare issues, monetized gas and contribute immensely to the nation’s revenue.

Besides, Shell and her Joint Ventures (JV) partners in 1962, started supplying gas to the domestic gas market which also supported most industries in the southern part of Nigeria but only constrained by infrastructure. Also, together with NNPC, Total and Agip, Shell established the Afam 6 power plant which supplies 650 Mega Watts of power and it has reached between 12 per cent and 20 per cent to the nation’s power generation.

There are many instances where Nigeria has gotten it right and the challenge to all operators is how can what has been done be scaled up or improved to deal with the problems? Nigeria and its oil industry operators have all that is required and has been given.

The Shell boss remarked that “it is in the hands of operators to use available tools to close the gap to be able to create sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the country with regards to domestic utilization of gas.”