Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Dutch energy firm, Energy Ventures BV, has commenced steps to convert about five million standard cubic feet of flared gas per day into electricity and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Rivers State, describing the project as a major step towards transforming environmental waste into sustainable energy.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Okibe, disclosed this during a visit to the project site and meetings with key partners, including the management of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED).
Okibe said Energy Ventures BV, the parent company of Africa Gas Technology Company Limited, was developing the project to harness flare gas from HES Energy and convert it into electricity and cooking gas for communities around the project area.
“What we are trying to do is convert waste gas to sustainable energy for customers who have been underserved in these areas,” he said.
According to him, the project will harness five million standard cubic feet of gas per day, noting that it represents only a fraction of the gas being wasted through flaring across Nigeria.
“This is one of over a hundred projects in Nigeria that actually waste similar volumes of gas. Nigeria is not unique to this problem. Nigeria is actually the seventh highest gas flaring country,” Okibe said.
He added that if all the gas flared globally were harnessed, it would be sufficient to power the whole of Africa, describing the Rivers project as a pilot that could demonstrate the technical and economic viability of converting flare gas into useful energy.
“That’s 60 years of polluting the environment, emitting harmful gas to people that have caused air pollution and respiratory illnesses,” he said. “What we are doing is a very small step in actually trying to correct that.”
He disclosed that the project had received support from the Dutch and Nigerian governments, while regulatory approvals had also advanced.
Okibe said PHED had also given the company the green light to engage the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for the necessary electricity-generation permit.
He said the project would require tens of millions of dollars in investment, with funding expected from both private and public sources, including the Dutch government and Nigeria’s Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF).