Rivers woos industrial offtakers to its gas master plan
Shell gas, CHGC early franchisees 50mscf/d 17km pipeline run by CHGC, to increase to 100mscf/d
RIVERS STATE IS WOOING IN DUSTRIAL offtakers to its huge underutilized gas deposits for which it has developed a master plan for industrial management.
The Rivers Gas Master Plan (RSGMP) project, which Peter Medee, economist and commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources said a lot of people are not aware it exists, and is capable of providing gas-to-power input to several industries in the state, went into operation with two franchise areas: Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) and Central Horizon Gas Company.
Medee, in an exclusive interview with Business A.M. said the two companies are operating the two RSGMP concession areas – as special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the state. For instance, Shell Nigeria Gas transports gas to tens of industrial offtakers in its franchise area extending to Onne, Eleme with the Indorama group’s Eleme Petrochemicals and IEFCL, its fertilizer arm, as major offtaker. The gas supply company is said to plan moving outwards along the Eleme industrial corridor through the East-West Road to parts of Choba area of Port Harcourt.
For Central Horizon Gas Company, the second franchisee, has already developed and is operating a 17-km gas distribution network with a throughput of 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mscf/d). This network runs gas pipeline from the Trans-Amadi Industrial layout up to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) area.
However, despite this feat, the commissioner concedes that the multi-million-dollar gas facility is
grossly underutilized, with hundreds of industrial gas offtakers still required into the gas pipeline grid.
“We’re soliciting new companies in the productive sector of the economy to come and invest in Rivers State, utilizing the gas; while those companies operating in the state, should hook onto the Rivers Gas Master Plan project. The gas is a cheaper alternative source of power for industries. We hope that as more companies get on the RSGMP network, it will help to drive down their production costs, and bring down their products prices at the end of the day. With all this in place, we will experience a raised GDP of the state, more employments, thereby reducing the misery index of the state,” Medee, an economics lec- turer at the University of Port Harcourt before being appointed into the energy & natural resources ministry explained in an interview Business A.M had with him in his 13th floor office in the Point Block building.
He said Governor Nyesom has since given his approval for the op- eration of the RSGMP, explaining that today, industrial gas offtakers like BUA Group, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), Crown Flour Mill, among others, are hooked on the industrial gas supply net- work.
Meanwhile, the Central Hori- zon Gas Company (CHGC) is discussing with the ministry (of Energy & Natural Resources) to extend its gas pipeline network from the BUA premises, which is operator of Terminal B of the Port Harcourt port. The incoming network would run through NPA premises to the Port Harcourt reclamation area. The area is being reclaimed from the sea for industry and upscale residential development. With this, CHGC will increase its gas pipeline network to 100 km. The company is also planning to ride westward of Port Harcourt into Choba (which hosts University of Port Harcourt, small-to-middle industries), then into the Greater Port Harcourt city (GPH). The GPH project is a metropolitan area covering approximately 1,900 square km (734 miles square), created in 2007 as a new city englobing Port Harcourt, Obi-Akpor, Ikwerre, Oyigbo, Etche, Eleme, Okrika and Ogu-Bolo.
“What we’re yet to develop under the Rivers State Gas Master Plan, is taking the gas master plan beyond Port Harcourt metropolis. According to the RSGMP, it ex- tends up to Mbiama, Ahoada, Bori, Bonny, up to Degema. We’re believing that, as industries open up in these areas, these franchisees would be able extend gas to them either via vehicular transportation or pipeline. But we know that pip- ing gas is capital-intensive. And where there are no big offtakers, it becomes uneconomical to engage in such venture,” the commis- sioner said.