Gas Valorization

Having reduced global upstream operated carbon intensity by 20% since 2014, Eni is on track to achieve its company target of 43% reduction by 2025. The company is pursuing a broad set of initiatives to achieve this goal, focusing on efficiency gains, methane emissions reduction, portfolio shifts towards lower and zero carbon energy sources, and carbon capture and storage.

With the aim of achieving Zero Routine Flaring, in the past 14 years NAOC has developed a number of projects on its operated JV onshore assets to valorize produced gas and increase the amount of gas sold to the domestic market for power generation or to industrial plants.

In general, flaring down projects in Nigeria are based on the construction of gas lines from stranded oil plants and on the installation of low-pressure compression trains in order to recover the flared gas and convey it into the existing gas network.

Over the years, NAOC has invested substantially to reduce the amount of routine gas flared in its operations.

The reduction in gas flaring began at the completion of the main gas trunklines for the marketing of EPCL and NLNG gas (2007-2011). In the following years, the company developed initiatives like the Idu Phase 2 in 2012 and the Ogbainbiri Flow Station Upgrade in 2013.

More recently, the company focused on Akri and Kwale plants, with an integrated project gathering associated gas from Akri oil wells and all atmospheric and low-pressure flares in Kwale flowstation.

Akri gas is transported via a new 18.1 km pipeline to Kwale where it is collected, compressed and transported along with the atmospheric and low-pressure flared gas in Kwale, where new low-pressure compression capacity has been installed.

The line from Akri to Kwale has been completed and commissioned in 2018, currently delivering about 15 MMSCFD. The installation of 2 trains of atmospheric and LP compression in Kwale is ongoing, and once completed it will have 20 MMSCFD installed capacity.

Overall cost of the project is about 130 million US dollars.

NAOC has long been at the forefront in supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria to increase gas production, and is strongly committed towards the domestic gas market, which currently accounts for over 30% of its total supply. This is twice as important if we think that part of this is used as feedstock to power plants, thus generating power.

In 2018, because of this trend of consistent investment, flared gas at NAOC was only 3.6 % of gas production. This means that 96.4% of gas produced is being utilized, specifically to generate electricity at Okpai IPP, and to supply the petrol-chemical plant at Eleme and the LNG liquefaction plant in Bonny.

NAOC is also pursuing a gas flare monetization strategy through gas sales agreements, strengthening the company’s commitment to the domestic market while at the same time allowing us to leverage our flaring down policy and CO₂ emissions reduction.