A former Head of Gas Exploration and Production of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR) Engineer Sunday Babalola, has said that harnessing and optimising Nigeria’s huge gas reserves will boost the nation’s economy. He explained that it would increase the nation’s revenue earnings, improve the standard and quality of life as it would have provided the government revenue for human capital development and infrastructure provision.
He spoke in an interview with New Telegraph over the weekend. The Commission’s Chief Executive, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engr Gbenga Komolafe, while giving a break down of the figure of Nigeria’s crude Oil and Gas reserves said that as of January 1, 2024, the reserves of Associated Gas and Non-Associated Gas stood at 209.26 trillion cubic feet (TCF). He explained that the reserves of Associated Gas and Non-Associated Gas were reported at 102.59 TCF and 106.67 TCF, respectively.
He added that the figures shed light on the significant resources Nigeria possesses in terms of Gas reserves. He noted that the data reaffirmed the country’s position as a key player in the global energy landscape, which is crucial for the country’s energy policies, investment decisions, and overall economic planning. Babalola advised the government to demand for owners of fields or blocks to develop the oil and gas simultaneously.
The oil and gas expert also said there should be massive investment in oil field development and re-development, adding that while they are doing that, there must be plan to utilise the gas. He said: “Harnessing, developing and maximising Nigeria’s gas potential will bring revenue to the country and other benefits. It will bring a lot of development.
“What the government can simply do is to encourage and ask everyone that has a field, to by law and by standards, make sure that you harness your gas. “FG when they are giving the assets to the companies should insist that if you are drilling oil, you must also do gas harnessing. When FG is awarding oil well, they should insist that gas harnessing should be part of the process. There is no oil block and there is no gas block. It is oil and gas block. “When you drill, you find both of them. You also find water. Because the water is useless, nobody mentions it.
The water is deep down and cannot be useful because they are already in water prone area. Why do they need to dig deeper to bring the water out? Water is always produced with oil and gas.” Babalola, who is a retired Deputy Director, DPR, however, said harnessing gas was a complex undertaking. He stated that it involves many factors, adding that the engineering process, geology and decision are all complex. He said that in the past, companies were not enthusiastic to develop the gas potential in their field.
He said: “It is very complex because the 209 TCF is not just gas that is found in one place. It is located in several places. Secondly it is both non associated gas and associated gas. Substantial part is known as associated gas. Thirdly, you can not harness non-associated gas without harnessing the oil. “Gas cap gas is called associated gas. That one is even for future production because until you finish drilling the oil by a reservoir engineering standards, you have to drill your oil or at least get to place before you can see the gas that is in the cap.
So how do you wake up and start harnessing that? “In the past, the law says: ‘after five years of production or field development, you can plan for the gas.’ So what the companies were doing was just planning for the gas. “They were not thinking of harnessing the gas and when they come to the then DPR, they will just say we are planning it because that is what the law says. Until I became head of gas exploration and production and I said this was not accepted. First of all I imposed $350 on the companies but the government of the day did not have the political will to implement that on the companies for flaring gas.
“I also said if you want to do any field development or redevelopment, we will not approve it unless you have a concrete plan that will be implemented immediately for the gas utilization. Of course the domestic gas obligation tacitly helped but what they did was that all the companies said we are very far from where we are going to be able to deliver the gas so it makes it very difficult.
“It is a very complex matter. It is not just that I have 209TCF and therefore how do I harness it? There are many factors around it and people should realise it. The engineering is complex. The geology is complex. The decision itself is complex. It is not just something you wake up and say ‘OOO I have this, I want to do it.” Babalola said that field development should go simultaneously with gas harnessing and utilisation.
He added: “Every field development should go along with gas harnessing and utilization. If they are not going to go simultaneously, there is no need for that development, especially field development. That is how you can do it. But other than that, are you going to say I will produce gas cap gas before I drill the oil?
“That means you have lost the oil. Many fields, there is layering. Some of the reservoirs, there are gas reservoirs, you can drain those ones. But if you did not have a plan to use your associated gas to which you can now add those ones to make the volume big enough, you will do nothing about it. You will just leave them there. “But how do you harness something that is scattered all over.
How do you even harness something that is even under ground in different reservoirs or something that is attached to the oil? Without producing the oil, you cannot get the gas. Or something that is on top of the oil directly? Without first producing the oil, you cannot get the gas. There are many things involved. People should be educated about it.
