NNPC, TotalEnergies Sign MoU on Adoption, Deployment of Methane Detection Technology

•NCDMB inaugurates gas recovery package funded by IOC, JV partners 

•TotalEnergies MD harps on optimisation of contracting cycle

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) yesterday announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TotalEnergies for the adoption and deployment of a methane detection technology, the Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Application (AUSEA), in all its upstream operations.

With the agreement, which was a direct benefit from the company’s participation at the recently concluded COP28 in Dubai, UAE, the NNPC said it would be able to deploy the TotalEnergies AUSEA technology in its upstream operations sites.

According to a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, it would help ascertain the level of methane emissions from the operations, with a view to working out emission curtailment measures to help in combating global warming and climate change.

The MoU, Soneye said, was signed by the NNPC’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, and Managing Director and Country Chair, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria, Matthieu Bouyer, on behalf of their respective companies, under the watch of the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) NNPC, Mele Kyari, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné.

Speaking on the collaboration at the MoU signing event, Kyari described TotalEnergies as a great and reliable partner over the years with whom the company was looking forward to exploring greater opportunities in the nation’s energy sector.

On his part, Pouyanné, said his company was offering the technology to NNPC in keeping with its commitment to promote responsible production of hydrocarbons.

He applauded NNPC for its successful transition into a limited liability company, stressing that he could see and feel the energy that the reforms had brought about, not only in the company but also in the sector.

Putting the deal in proper perspective, NNPC’s Eyesan, said the pilot phase of the TotalEnergies AUSEA deployment would be on NNPC’s owned operations, adding that the deal would enable the company to deploy methane abatement measures.

Other benefits of the TotalEnergies AUSEA technology, the company said, include identification of unaccounted emission sources, establishment of a basis for querying and improving current emission reporting processes, provision of data to review operational system and implement corrective actions as well as estimation of flare combustion efficiency.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has conducted the load-out ceremony of OML 100 skided ejector package, fabricated and assembled by an indigenous company, Wilkriss Nigeria Limited for residual gas recovery.

Speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the ceremony, the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation at the NCDMB, Abdulmalik Halilu expressed the board’s excitement to see companies make significant breakthroughs in the fabrication space.

He commended TotalEnergies and its Joint Venture (JV) partners, sponsors of the project for providing an opportunity for capacity utilisation by an indigenous company, just as he lauded Wilkriss Limited for the top-notch quality in project execution.

He also counselled the management of Wilkriss Limited to sustain the quality assurance attainments already made as evidenced by all the ISO certifications.

 “NCDMB has conducted a baseline census in fabrication yards and we’ve seen a major trend in terms of burst and boom era, in terms of capacity utilisation. So we try as much as possible to give premium attention to fabrication yards to ensure that there’s a healthy pipeline of opportunities for them to sustain the operations of the yards,”  he said.

He added: “We know Nigeria has signed on to net zero carbon emission by 2060…. So this project which seeks to reduce gas flaring – ultimately that means carbon emission – is part of the global momentum we have today around decarbonisation and net zero.”

An Executive Director of Wilkriss, Naaba Umahi, said it marked a major milestone not only for the company but the industry and the country, given that a project of such magnitude could be executed in-country with a workforce, which included six-G-certified welders, that were 100 per cent Nigerian.

While commending TotalEnergies for being “very supportive” at all stages of the project, he said both companies were able to agree on materials that could be procured locally.

In the meantime, Bouyer has called for the adoption of categorisation as a form of streamlining and screening in oil and gas industry, saying it was one of the ways to optimise the industry’s contracting cycle.

Bouyer, made this submission during a panel session at the 12th Practical Nigerian Content, PNC Forum held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state.

Bouyer who spoke at the event where captains of indusries gathered to seek solution to various challenges facing the oil and gas industry in Nigeria with the theme of the panel discussion was “Providing an Enabling Environment for Investment in the Energy Sector.”

He said, “Before each call for tender, we need everyone to be clear on the strategies for bidders so that they can respect the timing in terms of call for tender. It comes with the appropriate organisation on the side of the companies and the regulators.”

On the overall contract cycle, Bouyer disclosed that, “it’s rather positive and what we need to look at is streamlining the number of bidders. The categorisation of the bidders needs to be done like size, type of taxes, etc to reduce the number of bidders for some of these calls for tenders.”

Giving an example of the company’s experience recently, he said, “We had some projects recently and we had over 100 bidders.

“Everybody can understand that it is difficult to narrow this volume of contractors down. It takes time to analyse and to stream down – which one can work, and which one cannot for the type of project. “But streamlining at the onset by way of categorisation will hasten the contractual cycle.”

Earlier in his keynote address at the opening ceremony, Wabote reeled out his achievements in office over the past seven years as the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Content Development Management Board, NCDMB and what the board had achieved as part of its 10-year strategic roadmap.

He said, “We have completed 83 per cent of our 96 initiatives. We have increased the number of industry operators from 53 in 2018 to 114 in 2023, representing about a 100 per cent increase.

“Within this same period, service companies increased from 8,000 to 11,000 while registration increased from 140,000 to almost 400,000.”

Wabote stated that Local Content as a national agenda required leadership support at all levels, either in public or private companies.