By Akanimo SampsonBetween this year and the next four years, Nigeria is expected to have around 100 oil and gas projects commencing operations across the value chain.That will account for 23 percent of all fresh oil and gas projects in Africa.
According to GlobalData Plc, a data and analytics company, newly-build projects will dominate the industry and account for around 90 percent of the total projects commencing operations across the value chain in the West African country.The report is titled, “Africa Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 – Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All-New Build and Expansion Projects.” In it the company reveals that of the 100 projects expected to commence operations during the period, petrochemicals will have the highest count with 28 projects, followed by upstream with 25, refinery with 24 and midstream with 23.Nigeria has several upcoming oil and gas projects including the 650,000 barrel per day Dangote refinery in Lagos which is expected to start operations in 2022 and to become the largest oil refinery in the African continent.
In the petrochemical sector, the most prominent project is the Brass Methanol Plant, owned by Brass Fertiliser & Petrochemical Company. With a capacity of 1.70 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) the new build plant has already received approval and is expected to start operations by 2025.
Bonga North and Okpokunou Cluster Development are notable projects in the upstream sector in Nigeria.
Bonga North is a deep-water conventional oilfield presently in FEED stage and is expected to commence operations by 2025, while Cluster Development is an onshore conventional gas field presently at the feasibility stage and is expected to start operations by 2024.
“Gas processing projects represent around 39 percent of all upcoming midstream projects in the West African country. ANOH-Seplat is one of the key projects with a capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd).
”The project is currently in the construction stage and is expected to start operations sometime next year”, GlobalData says.
In the mean time, the construction of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park in Emeyal 1, Bayelsa State, is expected to be fully completed in the fourth quarter of next year. This is according to the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote.
Wabote made the revelation after inspecting the construction work at the project site alongside other senior officers of the board, which is was vested with the mandate to make procedures that will guide, monitor, coordinate, and implement the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.The implementation of the project started with a ground-breaking ceremony back on April 27, 2018. According to the NCDMB, the project has now reached about 68 percent completion, with four major structures nearly completed.“We did the ground-breaking ceremony in 2018 when we were practically inside water, however, today we are seeing structures coming up. ”We still have a long way to go because most of the buildings are getting to the finishing stages while some others are just getting started. But all the same, we believe that we will complete this project by Q4, 2022,”said the NCDMB boss.
Upon completion, the facility is expected to create a low-cost manufacturing hub that will produce equipment components and spare parts to be utilised in the nation’s oil and gas industry consequently reversing the current trend whereby the sector depended on importation for most of its finished products.
It will also save the much-needed foreign exchange for the West African nation and create jobs for the Nigerian people.“The park will enhance our capacity and bring about technological innovations since most of those manufacturing will be done here. For the community, the park will create a lot of jobs and there will be a spin-off effect to other economic activities. The benefits are vast”, explained Wabote.
