Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals has revealed plans to develop a 600km offshore gas-gathering pipeline as its refinery and fertiliser complex generates more than 650 megawatts of electricity.
Group Vice President, Oil and Gas and Fertiliser, Dangote Industries Ltd., Mr Devakumar Edwin disclosed this during a tour of the Dangote Refinery in Lagos on Friday.
Edwin said the East-West offshore gas-gathering project would connect offshore gas producers to a pipeline for transporting gas to shore.
He said the engineering design had been completed and construction was expected to commence soon.
“We want to run, in the first place, a 600-kilometre pipeline in the sea,” Edwin said.
He said offshore gas producers would be able to connect to the pipeline and deliver gas for processing.
According to Edwin, the gas can either be treated and returned to the producers or purchased and utilised by the company.
He said the project would help address Nigeria’s inadequate infrastructure for transporting offshore gas to shore.
He said some gas discoveries remained undeveloped because of the lack of infrastructure to transport the resource to shore.
“When we strike a gas well, if it is full of gas, we just cap the well and sit it,” he said.
On power generation, Edwin said the refinery currently generates 501MW to meet its operational requirements.
He said the fertiliser complex generated more than 150MW, bringing total power generation across the complex to more than 650MW.
“All of it is going for our own consumption, including standby capacity,” he said.
Edwin, however, said the company could generate additional electricity for commercial use in the future.
He identified inadequate distribution infrastructure and revenue collection as major challenges to commercialising the additional power.
“The opportunity is there to generate power and go into it as a business,” he said.
He said Dangote had expertise in power generation using gas turbines, gas engines, coal and other thermal technologies.
Edwin said the company was also expanding its fertiliser operations, with plans to increase production from three million tonnes to 12 million tonnes annually.
