Following the Federal government’s drive on gas, monetisation and utilisation will soon get a lift as Pan Ocean Oil Corporation completes its multimillion dollar gas plant, now about 95 percent completed.
When completed, the plant will process natural gas into various products for both the domestic and export markets.
Speaking on the progress made with the plant, the consultant for Pan Ocean and CEO, Caritas Communications Limited, Adedayo Ojo, told NEXT in a telephone interview on Tuesday, “I think there would be three streams for different gases. There is Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas), there is the Natural gas Liquids (NGL) and there is the dry gas that would be supplied to the power plants for electricity generation,” he said.
He also said the gas plant will produce about 130 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, and expected to be commissioned over the next couple of months.
In 2007, Pan Ocean Oil signed a $144 million contract agreement with Lemna Energy Resources, a Chinese firm for the construction of the first phase of the gas plant, with total cost of the project estimated to be in excess of $250 million.
A new logo
Ahead of the anticipated operation of the plant, Pan Ocean unveiled a new corporate identity on Monday. The event, which was held at the corporate headquarters of the company in Lagos, is a highpoint of the strides the company has made over the years as well as the platform to launch into the future.
“In readiness for a new phase in the company’s history, the board decided that from the richness of the experience of the past, there is a need to get ready for the future so we are unveiling a new Pan Ocean, that is matured, and forward looking,” Mr. Ojo said at the event. “Pan Ocean is now at a point in the business where the company’s board and management, based on the experiences acquired over the last 36 years, think that the company has come of age and a lot of things are happening that made the company feel the need to redefine its business in the energy sector.”
Also speaking, the chairperson and managing director of the oil firm, Festus Fadeyi, said, the new logo mirrors the company’s ties with its host communities, adding that “Forward motion is the driving force which separates Pan Ocean from its competitors.”
Militant attacks
Mr. Ojo attributed the delay in resuming operations at the plant located at Ovade/Ogharefe, in Delta state, to the security issues in the Niger Delta, “Production of crude oil can’t happen because the pipeline that Pan Ocean uses is the Trans Forcados pipeline, which was bombed by militants. But it is being repaired and hopefully in the next few weeks we should be ready. It is a Shell pipeline, so until it is repaired, gas will not be piped into the pipeline,” he said.
The gas plant was to have been commissioned over a year ago, after a 12-month target agreement with Lemna Energy that was signed in 2007.
Militancy in the Niger Delta forced the company to shut down productions, but despite that, it hopes to double its production capacity over the next three years.
Nigeria’s oil and gas production
The Central Bank of Nigeria, in its Economic report for the 2nd Quarter of 2009, stated that Nigeria’s crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids were estimated at 1.70 million barrels per day (mbd) or 154.70 million barrels (mbd), compared with 1.78 mbd or 160.20 mbd in the preceding quarter, representing a 4.5% decline, a development it attributed to the continued disruption in oil production in the Niger Delta region, as a result of militant activities.
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