Total Seeks End To Gas Flaring, Optimistic On PIB

Date:

French oil giant Total SATOTAL Upstream Companies in Nigeria has forged ahead to risk major capital-intensive projects in the country, despite the investment apathy exhibited by other oil multinationals over the controversy raging the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

The Managing Director of the company, Elisabeth Proust, told The Guardian recently that the company embarked on the investment based on the existing terms and conditions of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), but the unfolding events on the fresh terms in the PIB remain a source of concern for the firm.

Enumerating a number of projects currently implemented by the oil multinational, Proust assured that Total will end gas flaring in the company by January 2015, when a major gas project is expected to come on stream.

“What we understand could be in the actual PIB draft is a big worry for Total. This is because we have started all these deep offshore projects on the economics of existing terms and condition of our Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) we signed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the government.

“We took the risk in accordance with the terms of the PSCs, which many people don’t realise meant that we make all the investment with the government paying nothing. If we didn’t find oil, then we lost everything without compensation or any recovery from the government. We took the risk but on the other hand when you take a risk you want your reward and the real reward is to be able to maintain our investment in Nigeria and our commensurate returns in line with the contracts.

“We are reasonably confident that for the existing production and projects, the government and legislature would look at the risk and very heavy investment we have undertaken and decide not to modify initially agreed investment and fiscal terms,” she said.

The joint venture projects include Ofon 2 and OML58, Egina and the Usan (already on steam). Proust said the company has discovered more fields like Ikike, Ubeta, among others.

On the gas flare out, she said the Total Ofon project would champion the course, while its O.U.R $900 billion pipeline would enhance domestic gas utilisation and aid the nation’s power sector.

“Total is concerned about the environment and this is why by the end of the year or early January 2015, we want to achieve gas flare out at Ofon which is one of our big projects. Plans have been put in place to reduce flaring and the group has a common target and we are going to achieve this target.

“It’s not so easy to reduce the flaring. The process includes the installation of heavy equipment to compress, dehydrate and re-inject the gas from the reservoir into the pipelines for export. In addition, you must have a ready market to evacuate the gas.

“Ofon is the only major installation where we have gas flaring and we will stop flaring there in January 2015. All the other installations, onshore on OML58, on the FPSO and on other platforms that we have, are all connected already to a gas utilisation solution designed to inject or commercialise the gas. So we will achieve zero flaring, though installations will maintain a small steady flow of gas to maintain a safety flare.

“We have also invested in a 24 inch wide 50km long pipeline onshore starting from OML58 to go to Imo River. Here we already have a contract with the Alaoji Power Plant and this is our first customer and we will be ready in 2015 to deliver 100 million cubic meters per day. We have contacted other industrial users, not just power plants because when you have the energy it stimulates development. My plan is that by 2017, we should evacuate 300 million cubic feet of gas through the pipeline”, she noted.

“It’s a huge pipeline crossing several communities. So it was not so easy. The cost of the pipeline is now around $900 million. To get return on such investment in pipeline, we need effectively good clients and an improved gas price,” she noted.

 

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

Lagos Police Arrest Man For Allegedly Beating His Wife To Death

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The police in Lagos state have...

Access Holdings to pay N1.80 as final dividend to shareholder

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Access Holdings has revealed plans to...

Police gun down two notorious bandits in Benue

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. Men of Operation Zenda, a Joint...

Army declares eight wanted in connection with the k!lling of its officers in Okuama

March 28, 2024. Azonuchechi Chukwu. The Nigerian Army has declared eight...
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com

Discover more from Naija247news

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading