Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, Chairman, Senate Committees on Gas (m) in a group photograph with members of his committee and staff of Pan Ocean company during the official visit to Pan Ocean Gas Plant, Ovade-Ogharefe, Ethiope West council area, Delta State, on Thursday.

By Francis Sadhere

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas Resources, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan has  said that Pan Ocean Gas Plant, one of Nigeria’s major gas plants, is committed to ending gas flare in the Niger Delta region in no distant time.

Senator Akpan who commended Pan Ocean for the great work they are doing in ensuring that domestic production of gas is boosted to provide domestic and industrial usage of gas in the country,  added that Pan Ocean Gas Plant will in no distant time solve the electricity challenges  in the country.

Senator Akpan who spoke to journalists during an official visit by members of the Senate committee on Gas to the Pan Ocean Gas Plant located at Ovade-Ogharefe, Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State, said that National Assembly was concerned about the amount of gas being flared into the atmosphere on daily basis.

Senator Akpan  added that  the visit was  for members of the committee  to see things for themselves and get  first hand information on the progress made so far concerning this important project.

According to him, the gas project is critical to the nation’s power generation, lamenting that even though the project has been stalled for past 18 months, the National Assembly would  do everything within its power to ensure that the project was completed by the end of the 3rd quarter of 2017, as promised by Pan Ocean team.

He said, “Basically we are looking at the Nigerian domestic gas supply as a whole and that is what has actually brought us here today. This project is a very critical project for the country. Based on the summation of the company, the company has been down for the past 18 months due to the vandalization of the Forcados export lines. These are some of the issues we will review as soon as we resume from our long vacation”.

“We are looking at available alternative evacuation options  with other  companies when a project of this nature is being conceived. Generally speaking we are very impressed with what we have seen despite the fact that we have a few observations and I will want to reserve my comments because we have not really finished our investigations on this matter”, he added.

According to him also ;”As we are going to Abuja we are going to engage NAPIMS and NNPC on one leg, but we have requested Pan Ocean to provide us with some certain information. But we want to encourage them to speed up with what they are doing because we are lacking behind in terms of delivery. So I want to reserve my comments until we finish our full engagement with relevant stakeholders on this project.”

On the issue of the Petroleum Industry Bill, Senator Akpan assured Nigerians that the Senate would ensure that all stakeholders are  consulted before the final passage of the bill, adding that they are also looking at the physical nature of the PIB and inherent incentives in the domestic market.

“Talking about the PIB, we are going to look at a lot of things. We are going to look at a lot of incentives and the current structure in view of this huge investment. But generally speaking what we are here to pursue is in the interest of the Nigerian people.

“The emphasis for us as a committee on gas resources is how we can increase the inflexion of our God given domestic talents. If we use the gas that we are wasting for domestic use, it will help us more because we need gas for industrial, domestic, agricultural and other uses.  So that will be the focus as a committee. Right now we are looking at fiscal nature of the PIB and we are looking at inherent incentives in the domestic market. So all we are expecting Nigerians to do, is to expect more from the National Assembly because we are working for the progress of our country,” Senator Akpan noted.

Earlier before the senators went out to take a tour of the facilities, Senator Akpan complained that the Federal Government was not getting value for its 60% funds  injected into the project, wondering why the situation was this way.

While commending Pan Ocean Gas for what they have been doing in the production of Gas in the country, Senator Akpan however, urged them to speed up the process of the expansion so that the government can start reaping the benefits of the investment.

He said, “We have received  several complaints  on this project. We believe strongly Nigerians must begin to explore their full potentials. We should not  undermine our gas resources. The time has come for us as a people to collectively sit and rewrite history. I want to say we have seen what is on ground. The key project which is the LPG is still behind schedule. We are passionate as a committee on gas in ensuring that Nigerians benefit maximally from this project.

“The investment we have seen is quite commendable. We have seen that the project is more or less one hundred percent indigenous because I have not seen many white men here. I want to assure you that we are monitoring this project because it is a very important project. It is a good thing that you have assured us that before the 3rd quarter of this year, the project will be completed.”

On his part, the Base Operations Manager, Pan Ocean Gas Plant, Mr. Monday Ikhureigbe while speaking to journalists after the inspection tour by members of the Senate Committee on Gas, said the gas plant has always been in the forefront of zero gas flare because the facility has the capacity to process gas with minimal flare.

He said, “So the senate committee on gas resources visiting us today is a real boost; they are here to  see the facilities as it is. The current gas plant is expanding into phase two and that means expansion from 130million to 200million scope. We   see their visit as  coming to  appreciate what we are doing and we will continue to expend our energy to try and expand and ensure gas flare is stopped even from our direct stakeholders who are in other operating environment.”

Earlier, the Project Manager, Mr David Abudorin, said the Pan Ocean Gas plant was conceived in 2005 with the view to eliminating routine gas flare, increase domestic gas supply, generate employment for sustainable development, and serve as additional revenue for the global CDM project – “UN Kyoto Protocal”.

“The project is comprised of two phases; GPP 1 which has designed capacity of 130mmScf while the second phase, GPP 2 has designed capacity of 200mmScfd plus LPG and Propane off take plant,” Mr Abudorin added.

Mr Abudorin ,who  led the Senate Committee members on the facility tour of the project site explained that the new tanker park under construction had the capacity to accommodate 120 tankers, adding that once completed it will be able to feed 60 tankers per day.

According to our Correspondent, the visit to the Ovade-Ogharefe gas plant by the Senate Committee on Gas offered Pan Ocean a great opportunity to demonstrate it credentials with regards to gas development in Nigeria  and address issues impacting its operations.

The  gas plant is the largest operational carbon emission reduction plant to be recognized in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pan Ocean is also the first company to sign the Gas Sales Aggregation Agreement (GSAA) with the Federal Government of Nigeria.