In Gabon, the government no longer wants the gas discovered in the oil fields to be burned. Libreville, which is facing a continuous decline in its oil production, also wants to increase the gas sector to make it a useful resource for the country’s development and not a source of pollution as is the case today.
From our correspondent in Libreville,
In the meeting room of the National Agency for Promotion of Investments, the PAT committee, Transformation Acceleration Plan, gathers representatives of oil companies operating in the country. Yann Yangari, the Gabonese expert leading the meeting, shows oil operators that Gabon imports 80% of butane gas it consumes while more than 80% of the gas detected in the country is burned by flames.
“Today, when operators exploring Gabon find oil (the editor’s remark), they are happy, but when they find gas, they take it as a risk. Today the burned out gas is burned. So the idea is to tell the operator instead of burning your gas, we suggest you come up with a project that allows you to use this gas and get you to pay for this gas, he says.
Support for the new gas transformation directive
Gabon’s new vision of converting gas into wealth is supported by a recent study confirming that the country has large gas reserves. “We have more than one hundred billion cubic meters of natural gas available in Gabon to structure projects for our economy,” said Yann Yangari.
In 2006, the French oil company Perenco was the first to use gas. Baptiste Breton, its CEO, is very happy to have started the business 15 years ago.
“Today, we operate a network of more than 500 kilometers of high-pressure gas transmission pipes in Gabon. This gas is mainly intended to supply power plants, which replace the use of diesel, which is frequently imported and which pollutes much more in terms of emissions, ”explains the CEO of Perenco.
For less polluting energy
In its forecasts, Perenco wants to ignite the entire city of Port-Gentil by the end of 2021 with gas. “By the end of 2021, approximately 40% of the gas in our commercial network will be delivered from flare gas. It is equivalent to feeding the whole village of Port-Gentil, he hopes.
In addition to the economic interest, Gabon wants to secure its energy conversion to less polluting energy through gas.
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