Featured, Oil & Gas
By Anthony Isibor
TOTALEnergies says Nigeria does not have to choose between increasing energy production and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, insisting both objectives can be achieved through careful project design and technology deployment.
Speaking during a strategic panel session at the 2026 Nigeria Oil and Gas Energy Week, Ogogome Epecham, General Manager, Assets Operated by Others, said the country’s energy transition must reflect Nigeria’s development priorities.
She said that any decarbonisation strategy must focus on three objectives: expanding access to energy, ensuring affordability and supporting industrialisation.
According to her, the belief that countries must choose between development and emissions reduction is a misconception.
“We can develop an equitable pathway that integrates decarbonisation into our growth strategy,” she said.
As evidence, she cited the Ubeta gas project, which is expected to produce first gas in 2027 and supply about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas daily to both domestic and export markets.
She said that the project incorporated several emissions reduction measures from the design stage, including eliminating routine flaring, deploying solar-powered systems to reduce fuel gas emissions and electrifying drilling operations.
Epecham also described the Petroleum Industry Act as providing a strong policy framework for achieving Nigeria’s climate and energy objectives.
On methane reduction, she explained TotalEnergies has demonstrated that reducing methane emissions is not prohibitively expensive but depends largely on effective monitoring and measurement.
The company, she explained, deploys proprietary drone technology known as AUSEA to detect and quantify methane emissions while complementing it with permanent methane monitoring sensors for continuous surveillance.
According to her, the combination enables rapid detection of fugitive emissions and allows operators to respond before losses increase.
She disclosed that TotalEnergies recently renewed its collaboration with NNPCL on deploying the drone technology and has shared its experience with industry partners.
Epecham said that TotalEnergies eliminated routine flaring across all its operated assets in Nigeria in 2023, making it one of the first operators in the country to achieve the milestone.
She maintained that future oil and gas developments should integrate decarbonisation measures from the earliest design stages rather than treating them as afterthoughts.
A.I
July 8, 2026
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