Green technology can guarantee zero gas flaring

The deployment of green technology in the nation’s oil and gas industry would ensure that no gas is lost through flaring across oil fields, the Managing Director, Clenik Petrotech Solutions, Clara Ikuku has said.

Ikuku, a geologist and reservoir engineer, who spoke on the sideline of the just concluded Nigeria International Petroleum Summit, NIPS in Abuja, said the green technology has been successfully applied in basins in Texas where there is zero gas flare.

According to her, “My green technology will be a game changer for the gas to power programme. It is time now to end gas flaring because we need the gas to develop our economy and for future generations. We need it for sustainable development.

“We cannot continue to do business as usual. A lot of big banks and financial institutions are taking out their money from the oil sector because they think that we are polluting the environment because of global warming.

“If we show to these stakeholders and these big banks that we can still produce the oil safely with zero gas flares, then we can get the investment we need.”

Ikuku said the Canadian-based company currently operating in Houston, is presently partnering with a green technology company to develop the technology which has been successfully applied at the Appalachian Basin in the US.

She explained that the technology takes the gas, once the well has been completed, and streams it together with the water in the well to a pipeline. But before this, it has a whole lot of separators right at the well site, the separators will separate the constituents.

“The oil which you can sell and then the gas which you can compress and re-inject if you want to manage your reservoir to maintain pressure in your reservoir. You can compress the gas and sell them or re-inject them for enhanced oil recovery.

“It is a closed loop where nothing is wasted. The oil is separated right at your well and then sold, the gas is compressed, re-injected or sold and the water is recycled,” she added.

She said the company, which currently consults for Saudi Aramco in Texas is seeking to go into discussion with people in charge of gas to power programme as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on the benefits of deploying the technology in Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Executive Director, Operations, Clenik Petrotech Solutions, Lulu Barango encouraged young and growing entrepreneurs to take advantage of the immense opportunities provided by the summit in collaboration with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources under the creative leadership of the Minister of State Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, the Executive Director of NCDMB, Simbi Wabote and the multi-national oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria.