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Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), an infrastructure solutions company in Africa is planning a project development facility for Africa’s largest gas to methanol plant in Nigeria. The intent of the project is to cut the CO2 emissions by a great extent by using the flared natural gas as a chemical used in solvents, paints, plastics and car parts. Production capacity The project in Akwa Ibom aims at creating early 1 of the oil/block production capacity. 60000 barrels per stream day (BPSD) of methanol for export by 2021 while contributing to diversification of the economy and creating over 18000 employment opportunities. Financing of the development stage has been provided by AFC to de-risk the project and launch the financial close process, while also offering financial advisory solutions to the sponsorship to mobilize the project financing and to ensure efficient delivery of this transformative undertaking. The project is being spearheaded by Blackrose, a project development and investment company and it partnered with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group acting as the co-developer and co-financier together with AFC. Over 95 per cent of Nigeria’s 200 cubic feet of natural gas reserves which is the largest on the African continent, one third of Africa’s total resources remain untapped and offer an huge potential for the development of Nigeria’s natural resource beneficiation and therefore, improving the country’s climate change vulnerability. The burning of gas has remained a major risk to the lives of people in the region right from the time oil was discovered because it produces chemicals that are known to be a cause of respiratory diseases among other diseases. “This revolutionary project is turning a massive loss to the face of Nigerians into a leading positive by turning this country’s gas resources to a distinct opportunity to create a New Nigeria as a contender in low carbon economy manufacturing and energy innovations,” AFCA President and CEO Samaila Zubairu said. “This particular partnership with Blackrose and IFC clearly reflects our commitment to Africa’s realistic shift to net zero while stressing on industrialisation, employment generation, socio-economic progress through production of methanol which is an essential industrial input,” Zubairu noted Project phases The project will be in two phases of 1. 0 MW installed capacity each. In the first phase, low-carbon methanol, an industrial chemical that is used in the creation of hundreds of products ranging from solvents for the pharmaceutical sector, paint, plastics, automobile components, and construction materials among others will be produced. This is also a lower emissions alternative fuel suitable for some hard to abate sectors like shipping and industrial boilers, for use in cooking stoves and in fuel cell solutions among others. The second part of the project will seek to diversify methanol production into ammonia which is one of the key raw materials in the production of fertilisers. Methanol is manufactured from synthetic gas mainly from coal and natural gas. Disposing of natural gas through flaring results in the emission of a considerable amount of carbon dioxide; however, the new plant will adopt efficient production methods with a lower net carbon intensity than traditional methanol synthesis techniques while simultaneously converting the gas that would otherwise be wasted and flared. Also, there are plans for carbon capture and offset methodology, and the utilization of external hydrogen to even further reduce the carbon footprint targets. Once the gas-to-methanol plant is constructed, the plant itself is expected to create over 2,500 direct jobs during construction and an additional 16,000 jobs through providing a stimulus to manufacturing and broadening the economy. |
