Gas flaring: Why IOCs should emulate PAN Ocean 
-Although the significance of the gas project goes beyond the supply of gas for electricity generation in the country, efforts of Pan Ocean Oil Corporation in the global fight to stop the release of harmful gas to the ecosystem have, no doubt, exposed the insincerity of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to check environmental pollution in the Niger Delta.
With this feat, the company has become the first in sub-Saharan Africa to be awarded carbon credit by a United Nations body to the tune of $1.10 million for the first three months of auditing by the global body.
As part of the global efforts to reduce global warming, through the eradication of gas flare and other forms of environmental pollution, a number of countries, including Nigeria, negotiated the Kyoto Protocol treaty in December 1997, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the city of Kyoto in Japan.
Stakeholders with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, including Nigeria, as well as oil and gas producing companies have accepted targets for limiting or reducing emissions and these targets are expressed as levels of allowed emissions, or “assigned amounts,” over the 2008-2012 commitment period.
It is therefore apparent that the claims by some IOCs that they spend billions of dollars on investment to check gas flare are mere propaganda aimed at warding-off attacks by environmental activists over their complicity in destroying the Niger Delta, through harmful environmental practices.
The recognition of the efforts of Pan Ocean by a global watchdog has made mockery of some of the claims by these IOCs and also exposed their lip service toward elimination of all forms of pollution and restoration of the environment.
Pan Ocean Corporation qualified for the Carbon Credit Scheme of UNFCCC in February 2009, as the Ovade-Ogharefe gas processing plant earns carbon credits for the company’s operations under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, where the company’s operation is registered.
With the CDM, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from projects in developing countries are registered and monitored under the UNFCC and sold to developed countries that have limited for their emissions.
Being the largest carbon-emission reduction project in West Africa, Pan Ocean’s gas plant process, an average of 40 million standard cubic feet per day of gas (mmscf/d), which otherwise would have been flared at the company’s nearby flow station and this feat earns it carbon credit.
Sandy Forsyth, the company’s Gas manager, the Ovade-Ogharefe said gas flare releases carbon into the atmosphere, causing global warming and other environmental hazards.
“We take the gas and process it. So, we reduce the amount of carbon that is going into the atmosphere and basically we get paid by how much we reduce the carbon emissions. We measure the carbon coming in; we measure the carbon going out and we sell the reduction.
“If I am part of the Nigerian government, I will not joke with Carbon emission. I will make the big companies pay for the amount of gas they flare.
Every company should do what we have done,” he said.
However, on the process of getting the carbon credit, Foryth said all figures are audited by the UNFCCC. “Everything is measured by a metre. So, we bring the gas in and measure the standard cubic feet of gas coming in. We must also measure every standard cubic feet of gas going out. We must also measure all the condensates that go back into the flow station.
“Once you tally one against the other, the UN conducts an audit of the figures to make sure they are correct. You cannot manipulate gas figures. They have to be absolutely correct all the time. Once the UN audits the figures, we go to a broker, who trades our carbon credit,” Foryth said.
The company’s Gas manager also challenged the Federal Government to be serious with the issue of ending gas flare.
On the efficiency of the gas processing mechanism, Akingbemila Olufemi, the plant’s Control Room operator, assured that the plant had been available and stable.
“We want to make sure that what we receive from the flow station is what we process and also to ensure that we are friendly to the environment. You can see that the flare is very low. So, we make sure that our recovery system is very active.
“We have about 99 percent recovery. Recovery means that the quantity of gas received from the flow station tallies with the quantity of gas processed, and this will also tally with the quantity used as fuel gas to run the engines plus gas generators and compressors, and the quantity of gas released for power generation,” he added.
He stated that the Hydrocarbon Reducer unit of the plant knocks down heavy hydrocarbons like Pentane, while the recovered liquid was sent back to the flow station to lighten crude oil.
