By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TotalEnergies for the adoption and deployment of a methane detection technology known as Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Application (AUSEA) in all its upstream operations.
In a statement signed by Mr Olufemi Soneye, NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, with the agreement, NNPC will deploy the TotalEnergies AUSEA technology on its upstream operations sites to ascertain the level of methane emissions from them.
This is done to work out emission curtailment measures to help in combating global warming and climate change.
The MoU was signed by NNPC’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, and Managing Director and Country Chair, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria, Mr Matthieu Bouyer, on behalf of their respective companies, under the watch of the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the state oil company,r Mele Kyari, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, Mr Patrick Pouyanné.
Speaking on the collaboration, Mr Kyari described TotalEnergies as a great and reliable partner over the years with whom the company was looking forward to exploring greater opportunities in the nation’s energy sector.
On his part, Mr Pouyanné said his company was offering the technology to NNPC in keeping with its commitment to promote responsible production of hydrocarbons.
He applauded NNPC Limited for its successful transition into a limited liability company, stressing that he could see and feel the energy that the reforms have brought about, not only in the company but also in the sector.
Putting the deal in proper perspective, Mrs Eyesan, said the pilot phase of the TotalEnergies AUSEA deployment would be on NNPC-owned operations, adding that the deal would enable the company to deploy methane abatement measures.
Other benefits of the TotalEnergies AUSEA technology include the identification of unaccounted emission sources and the establishment of a basis for querying and improving current emission reporting processes.
Others are the provision of data to review operational systems and implement corrective actions, and estimation of flare combustion efficiency.
Modupe Gbadeyanka