President Muhammadu Buhari is set to conduct a virtual inauguration of the Ologbo, Edo State-based Integrated Gas Handling Facility (IGHF), of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
Now completed in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020, the IGHF is economically beneficial to Nigeria; it ensures that Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), propane and pentane are available for Nigeria’s domestic consumption. It dispenses at full throughput about 330 tonnes of LPG per day which is technically equivalent to 16 standard LPG trucks or 20 tonnes, and 345 tonnes or 17 trucks of propane into the domestic gas market.
This revelation is contained in the company’s document titled: “How NPDC is Living out FG’s Gas Aspiration”, which The Nation stumbled on in Abuja at the weekend. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) subsidiary- NDPC disclosed that at full throughput which includes the facility processing over 200 million metric stand cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas, NPDC’s IGHF is able to yield 82mmscfd of lean gas or methane which is equivalent to 366.5MW of electricity per day. Monetarily, this translates to $205,000 per day or approximately $75 million per year at $2.5 per mscf of gas.
In its description of the plant’s commercial benefits, the document said “Additionally, 330 tonnes per day of LPG which is about 16 – 20 tonnes LPG trucks per day are delivered from the facility to the domestic LPG gas market, and this yields about ₦73.6 million per day or ₦26.8 billion per year to the NPDC.
“Besides these, 345 tonnes per day of propane with projected revenue of about $107 million per year, 2600 barrels (bbl) per day of condensate of which 800bbl is pentane and valued at $32.85 million per year are possible from the facility.
In summary, at full throughput and availability, the NPDC is most likely to earn up to $300 million every year from the facility.”
According to the firm, locally, the facility is expected to impact on Nigeria’s power sector and domestic LPG market, in addition to progressing the fortunes of its host communities. There are nearly 350 skilled and unskilled personnel that would benefit from the facility.
READ ALSO: Mediacraft Associates Appoints Segun McMedal as Director of Innovation and Business Development
In terms of employment, it explained that the plant has already benefited over 100 persons, who have gained from its construction through indirect economic activities which include food retail, sand and granite supply, other supply activities, liaison works, hoteling supports, vehicle and machine repair works. Going forward, another 100 would be required for the daily operation and maintenance of the IGHF. These workers would be drawn from the Nigerian labour market, with emphasis on the host communities, according to the NNPC firm.
This suggests that NPDC’s foray into gas utilisation will herald good tidings for Nigeria. Through the facility, the country is expected to have more gas for power generation. Considering that upgrades in electricity generation and supply is synonymous with upgrades in economic activities, it is envisaged that industries and small-scale enterprises within the Benin axis will see their production uptime and outputs improve operating costs associated with poor electricity supply substantially cut down.
In specifics, the projected supply of 26, 400 cylinders of 12.5 kilograms (kg) of LPG daily to homes in Benin and its environs, will equally bridge existing supply gaps in the local LPG market. This will potentially force down the price of LPG in Benin and make it affordable to most people thus augmenting the government’s intention to make LPG a preferred domestic fuel source.
In context, this is a huge LPG supply intervention bearing in mind that only about 100, 000 homes in Edo state have gas cylinders. More homes may likely acquire gas cylinders if the price of LPG becomes affordable. This thus means less safety concerns associated with the use of kerosene and bunkered condensates for domestic cooking.
With the operationalisation of the plant, LPG retail business is also expected to pick up, thereby lifting more homes out of poverty. Besides, considering that Nigeria is reportedly home to about 30 million families, of which only a meagre three million homes have gas cylinders or use LPG for cooking, NPDC’s entry into the domestic LPG market is considered well-timed and a potential game-changer.
This, The Nation learnt, will improve the country’s LPG consumption rate which is reported to be at 3kg per capita, and way below the average per capita consumptions of African countries. Additionally, with the market also said to be lucrative with positive growth trajectory, NPDC’s entry with a supply capacity of 120,450 metric tonnes per annum or 20.7 per cent of the country’s consumption means that it will become the second largest supplier after the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG).
The company built the plant to process over 200mmscfd of natural gas to the standard accepted by the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP). The NPDC’s IGHF is able to deliver processed lean gas to the domestic market through a viable gas spur line to the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS).
On commercial grade, the document said “Its commercial grade LPG, propane, and pentane are recovered for sales while stabilised condensate and produced water are returned to Oredo’s Existing Flow Station (EFS) for crude oil spiking and disposal respectively.”
Our Abuja correspondent also learnt that the plant which is designed to run for 25 years has the associated gas from the separator overheads of the EPF 1 & 2 in Oredo flow-station as its feed gas. Similarly, the gas streams from the EPF come into the IGHF manifold in different pressure regimes such as low pressure (LP), medium pressure (MP) and high pressure (HP). The LP and MP compressors boost the LP and MP pressures to the HP compressors’ suction pressure regime before feeding the gas into the HP compressors for compression and delivery to the processing units of the gas plant. The IGHF’s Plot 1 – dew-pointing and fractionation plant – consists of the inlet system with an IGHF inlet manifold, a LP gas compression system, a MP gas compression system, a HP inlet compression system, and gas dehydration system.
It also has the cryogenic system, residue gas compression system, custody transfer metering system, ethane, propane and butane fractionation system, heating and mechanical refrigeration systems.
There is the flare collection and disposal system, drain systems, corrosion protection system, fuel gas system, chemical injection systems, instrument and plant air system included in the Plot 1, as well as the portable and utility water system, electric power distribution systems.
Safety as usual is equally prioritised at the facility with a fire and gas detection and firefighting system, instrumentation and distributed control system (DCS), emergency shutdown (ESD) system, control room and motor control centres (MCC).
Standard telecommunications systems, warehousing, maintenance workshops, security and office buildings further complement the IGHF Plot 1.
READ ALSO: Mediacraft Associates Appoints Segun McMedal as Director of Innovation and Business Development
Effectively, it has six incoming gas feed lines of various sizes and a flange for future Oziengbe field gas hook-up, a residue gas export line that connects to the NIPP/NGC pipeline, stabilised condensate line to Oredo flow station crude oil tanks, produced water line to Oredo EFS produced water disposal system and a commercial-grade propane line to connect the LPG storage and dispensing facility at its Plot 2.
The document explained that from using the facility, the firm is accomplishing its domestic gas supply obligation to the country and getting more value from gas molecules that could have been flared.
, of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC)){kind=link}