By John Ikani
Nedogas Development Company Limited (NDCL), a Joint Venture company between Xenergi Limited and NCDMB Capacity Development Intervention Company, has in collaboration with the NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, successfully completed the construction and technical commissioning of a 300 MMscfd Capacity Kwale Gas Gathering (KGG) and injection facility located in the Umusam Community, near Kwale in Delta State, Niger-Delta, Nigeria.
The formal commissioning ceremony of the facility will be performed by the Honorable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Honorable Ekperikpe Ekpo on June 6, 2024.
The Minister will be supported by the Governor of Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Francis Orohwedor Oborevwori and the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe.
The KGG Facility was designed to handle stranded gas resources in Nigeria’s OML56 oil province by providing the opportunity for independent operators in the area to monetize natural gas from their fields through the gas gathering, compression, injection and metering infrastructure of the KGG for quick access to market.
The KGG hub, which has been tied-in to the NGIC-owned and operated 48-inch OB-3 gas trunk line, is now fully commissioned with gas injection capacity totaling approximately 50 MMscfd comprising of 20 MMscfd from the Nedogas Plant located 3km away in Energia’s Ebendo field and another 30 MMscfd coming from the Matsogo field operated by Chorus Energy Limited. Injected gas volumes are gradually and steadily being ramped up.
This project represents a significant milestone in Nigeria’s decade of gas initiative as well as a major achievement in the quest to provide gas into the OB3 trunk line and monetize natural gas resources from the OML 56 producer cluster.
With the successful injection of gas from the Energia/Oando JV and the Chorus operated Ebendo and Matsogo fields respectively into the OB3, the KGG Facility is now poised to receive additional gas from nearby fields including those operated by First Hydrocarbon Nigeria (FHN), Pillar Oil, and Midwestern Oil & Gas, all aimed at positioning KGG as a fully-fledged gas-gathering facility and hub with single point injection of up to 300 MMscfd of gas into the OB3 via the KGG tie-in.
The plan is to expand the capacity of the KGG facility to 600 MMscfd in the second phase. In addition to the gas delivery obligations of the facility, the KGG will also be supplying the Delta State Economic Zone (DSEZ) from an integrated supply node within the manifold at the hub.
NDCL is a 100% Nigerian company with a proven interest in innovating and deploying cleaner energy solutions for Nigeria’s growth and economic development.
NCDMB’s equity investment in NDCL is one the strategic projects geared towards actualizing the Federal Government’s aspirations in key areas of the oil and gas industry. Most of NCDMB’s third-party investments are targeted at actualizing the Federal Government Decade of Gas programme.
The investments are in line with the Board’s mandate to build capacity and catalyze local projects in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as enshrined under the Nigeran Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
Prior to now, NDCL’s precursor, Xenergi Limited, developed a novel approach to providing cleaner energy sources which resulted in the birth of Nigeria’s first inland Integrated Power, Propane and LPG Modular Plant in partnership with Energia-Oando JV, located in Ebendo in Delta State, Nigeria.
The Nedogas Natural Gas Fractionation Plant, produces high-quality LPG and propane and with the capacity to process over 25 MMSCFD of associated natural gas. The capacity of the plant is currently being expanded to 60 MMSCFD.
The Executive Secretary NCDMB enthused that the success story of NEDOGAS at Kwale, Delta State could be replicated in other oil- and gas-producing communities to minimise gas flaring. He declared the Board’s readiness to continue collaborating with the company.
“Their model should be extended to other parts of the country where gas flaring is continuing. They have shown that with the modular system, we can quickly remove flaring from our operations in Nigeria.”
The Managing Director of NDCL, Mr. Debo Fagbami explained that with the completion of the first phase of the KGG Facility, the proof-of-concept to readily monetize gas has now been established to the extent of eradicating the pain of seeing an invaluable resource being wasted.
Rather than just being concerned about ending gas flaring – he sees opportunities to harness the potential of the flare sites from these oilfields which will ultimately convert a “wasting” resource into an economic asset used to generate cleaner energy.
With an estimated 180 billion cubic feet of proven Natural gas reserves, Nigeria has the ninth largest concentration in the world, but sadly enough, the country continues to flare significant quantities of Associated gas which has relegated the health and environmental well-being of Nigerians to the background for over 60 years.
Natural gas remains a relatively clean fossil fuel and represents a viable transition to renewable energy which plays a pivotal role in powering the growth of developing economies like Nigeria. The KGG facility is set to create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs for indigenes of the host and nearby communities.
