Oil & Gas
PHOTO CAPTION:
NNPC Ltd’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Udy Ntia (2nd from right) and TotalEnergies Country Chair and Managing Director, Matthieu Bouyer (1st from left), signing an MoU to extend the deployment of the Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications (AUSEA) technology for the detection, measurement, and reduction of methane and carbon emission across upstream operations for another 24 months. The MoU was signed at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, on Wednesday.
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. and TotalEnergies have renewed their partnership to continue the deployment of advanced methane detection technology aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions across Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas operations.
The renewed agreement extends, for another 24 months, the use of the Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications (AUSEA) technology for the detection, measurement and reduction of methane and carbon emissions.
The agreement was signed in Abuja on Wednesday by NNPC Ltd.’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mr. Udy Ntia, and TotalEnergies Country Chair and Managing Director, Mr. Matthieu Bouyer.
The initiative is designed to support NNPC Ltd.’s commitment to reducing gas flaring and achieving its environmental sustainability targets under the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0 framework, and its ambition of attaining near-zero methane emissions by 2030.
The renewed pact follows an earlier agreement signed in 2023 that introduced the AUSEA technology into NNPC’s operations.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Ntia expressed satisfaction with the results achieved during the first phase of deployment and advocated for the expansion of the technology across more assets.
“Today’s signing represents a practical step in NNPC Limited’s journey to build a credible, transparent and action-oriented decarburisation programme.
“Through the AUSEA initiative, we are strengthening our ability to detect, quantify and prioritise methane abatement opportunities using advanced measurement technology,” he said.
Ntia also called for the institutionalisation of progress reporting in line with compliance requirements and stressed the importance of exploring opportunities for technology transfer.
Also speaking, TotalEnergies’ Senior Vice President for Africa, Mr. Mike Sangster, commended the longstanding cooperation between the two companies.
According to him, TotalEnergies became the first oil-producing company in Nigeria to eliminate gas flaring across all its assets, noting that the AUSEA technology played a key role in achieving that milestone.
He added that the company remained committed to attaining near-zero methane emissions by 2030.
AUSEA is a drone-based emissions monitoring technology developed by TotalEnergies in partnership with the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the University of Reims.
The technology helps identify previously unaccounted emission sources, improve emissions reporting processes, assess flare combustion efficiency and provide data for operational reviews and corrective actions.
Industry stakeholders say the continued deployment of the technology is expected to strengthen environmental monitoring and support efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
F.O
Tags: Methane emissions reduction NNPC TotalEnergies