Nigeria operates a national electric grid system by hydro-power and coal. The nation is shifting toward natural gas, a material that is been flared for lack of adequate processing infrastructure.
Over the last 36 years, Nigeria has flared some 70 billion USD worth of natural gas. During the last eight of those years, Nigeria has been struggling to build several natural-gas fired power plants to boost electricity supply; power supply that has dropped to about 1200-900 MW over the last 12 months in Nigeria
Can’t Nigeria initiate small, low-cost, “off-grid” alternative measures to power generation while the mega power plants are being built for the national grid, and there is enough natural gas to power them? Didn’t the president revealed that “three finished gas-fuelled power stations are unable to generate electricity because Nigeria has sold all its gas for export?”
As I understand the oil-drilling process, natural gas is a by-product which – if unprocessed – has to be burnt (flared) for the drilling process to continue safely. However, what I discovered is this “unrefined” natural gas can be used ‘as-is’ to power small electric generators (turbines). The Curse of the Black Gold blog has the details.
Here is an example of the generators suggested on the blog.
Although the generators are specifically built for usage on oil-drilling installations, I’m sure with little modifications they can be made to generate electricity for the small local communities around the oil wells which suffer the same fate as other regions in Nigeria. Just as the writer, I wonder “there has not been incentive for the oil companies to install them [the generators]” to power those communities.
While this is certainly a temporary local measure and location-dependent, it will be of benefit to the small communities in the Niger-delta currently without electricity.
This makes a lot of sense
July 8, 2008 at 1:52 am
This is all about ownership of the resources, isn’t it? Neither the Nigerian government nor the foreign oil companies recognize any rights of the local inhabitants of the region. So that is why they are not provided with electricity or with fuel as compensation for drilling on their land.
I am not certain that this scheme would work for offshore rigs, but it certainly should be used at the onshore ones.
July 10, 2008 at 6:19 am
I saw you link here Don, thanks!
You got it perfectly: “Neither the Nigerian government nor the foreign oil companies recognize any rights of the local inhabitants of the region”!!!!
July 10, 2008 at 12:33 pm