Belemaoil Producing Limited has commenced its Gas Utilization Project to Unlock and Harness the Natural Gas Potential in OML 55.

In this interview, the Lead, Gas Development Project of Belemaoil Engr. Oyelere Oyeyemi shed light on the economic potential of the project.

What is the aim of the Gas Development Project of Belemaoil Producing Ltd.?

What are the objectives of this laudable Gas Development Project of Belemaoil?

“The main objective of this project is to monetize the available Associated Gas (AG) an Non- Associated Gas resources (NAG) in the OML 55, to increase Gas Utilization by supporting Federal Governments’ drive to increase gas supply into the domestic market, and to implement the Flare-out Policy in the OML 55.”

What is the current stage of the project?

“We are aggressively pursuing the gas development project, bearing in mind that a significant percentage of the OML 55 resource base is gas.

Currently, we are using one of the leading Oil and Gas Consultants, Schlumberger Limited to carry-out a Field Development Study which is focusing on the Gas Development. This study will evaluate multiple development options considering Net Present Value (NPV), Oil and Gas Recovery, Operational flexibility, and Capital versus Operating cost profiles.

Also, we are about to start the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for the Robertkiri Gas Plant (RGP) which would allow us to take the Final Investment Decision (FID) by the 3rd quarter of this year. This project is schedule-driven and we are making good progress.”

What time has the company set to commence actual production of gas?

“We intend to have first gas for the short-term and long-term phase by the first quarter 2020 and first quarter of 2021 respectively. This timeline is in alignment with the 7 Critical Gas Development Project (7CGDP) which is been driven by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In Gas Development evacuation is key, what plan has the company put in place to ensure easy evacuation of the gas from OML 55?

“We are synergizing with the close-by operators and also leveraging on the existing gas infrastructure/pipeline to evacuate our gas from the Robertkiri Platform to Obigbo Node for onward transmission into the domestic market. The export gas will be treated (Dehydrated & Dew Point controlled) to meet the export pipeline specification and compressed for transmission. We also intend to extract the Hydrocarbon Heavy-Ends in order to optimize the economic value of the export gas. This is our corporate intent!

How much gas will the project deliver to the domestic market?

“Our target is to deliver about 120MMSCFD into the domestic market in the long-term phase of the project. This project is currently captured under the 7 Critical Gas Development Projects which is fully supported and driven by the Federal Government Nigeria. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) intend to collaborate with its joint venture partners to increase the amount of gas available to Nigeria’s domestic economy in 2020 to about five billion standard cubic feet per day (5bscf/d) from the current 1.3bscf/d (2017). Belemaoil remains committed to working with the Federal Government of Nigeria to increase gas supply to the domestic market.”

What are the business possibilities available for investors in the Belemaoil Gas Development Project?

“As we speak, Nigeria Gas Reserves is about 9th position in the world, with proven gas reserves of 192 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) as at 2016 and despite these available resources, we are still having significant shortfall in the gas supply into the domestic market and export market. I believe there are numerous business opportunities that are yet to be fully explored e.g. Gas to Power, Gas to Methanol, Gas to Petrochemical, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) etc. We are still open to third-party off-takers who are willing to off-take our gas at a competitive price. This project when completed will enable Belemaoil to become a major player in the domestic Gas market with assured significant return on investment to the NNPC/Belemaoil JV”.

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