The Nigerian government is making significant strides in its efforts to control and regulate gas flaring, aiming to eliminate routine flaring in the coming years. A critical aspect of this endeavour is precise measurement.
Fluenta, the global leader in ultrasonic sensing technology for measuring flare gas, has successfully completed a project at the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, the largest oil refinery in Africa. The project involved the installation of 18 ultrasonic flare gas metres on large pipelines around the facility.
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Dangote Refinery and Nigeria’s Pursuit of Energy Self-Sufficiency
The Dangote Refinery plays a pivotal role in Nigeria’s journey toward energy self-sufficiency. Currently, Nigeria, despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, imports refined petroleum products for its domestic consumption. The Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, commenced operations in May 2023. It has the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of oil per day, meeting Nigeria’s daily fuel requirements with a surplus of 38 million litres of refined products earmarked for export.
Nigeria is positioning itself as a global leader in emissions reduction, and the practice of gas flaring, which involves the controlled burning or combustion of excess or waste gases that cannot be processed or captured for productive use, plays a significant role in safety and environmental practices within the petroleum industry. Accurate flare measurement is essential from both regulatory and environmental law compliance perspectives, as well as for precise emissions monitoring.
The collaboration between Fluenta, its Nigerian representative, Daptem Engineering, and the Dangote project team faced unique engineering challenges due to the wide variety of pipeline sizes, ranging from 18 to 90 inches in diameter. Larger pipelines pose difficulties in achieving accurate measurements, as the acoustic pulse must travel further, potentially resulting in weaker and less precise readings. Additionally, the high CO2 content in the flared gas made measurement challenging using ultrasonic technology.
Innovative Solutions for Accurate Measurement
The project team implemented numerous innovative and customised solutions tailored to each case, ensuring the accuracy of the measurement system. These solutions addressed the complexities posed by varying pipeline sizes and the challenging gas composition.
Under current Nigerian legislation, companies involved in oil and gas refining must pay a fee for flared gas to incentivize a reduction in flaring. This underscores the importance of Fluenta’s accurate and reliable flare measurement and management.
Radek Kurkowski, director at Fluenta, said, “Flare gas measurement and control is vital to ensure compliance with environmental regulations and to help identify potential safety hazards. This is especially true at a plant on this never-before-seen scale and with the world’s largest flare pipe.”
He added, “Fluenta’s work stands as testament to the power of innovation, creative teamwork, and a commitment to meeting the client’s needs. We are extremely proud to support the domestic security of energy supply in Nigeria.”
Fluenta’s Extensive Experience in Africa
Fluenta has a proven track record of operating in Africa. In 2017, the company partnered with an International Oil Company (IOC) operating in Nigeria, developing tailored solutions for flare measurement. These solutions were installed in 2019, and since then, the IOC has ordered an additional 32 Fluenta flare measurement metres. Fluenta has now been awarded preferred supplier status, with all flare gas flow metres on the IOC’s assets replaced or undergoing replacement with the Fluenta solution.
Fluenta will delve deeper into the challenges of combustion efficiency and the industry’s efforts to track methane emissions from flaring at the Nigeria Hydrocarbon Measurement Conference (NiHMEC), scheduled for October 4-5, 2023, in Lagos, Nigeria.
This collaboration between Fluenta and the Dangote Refinery is a significant step toward Nigeria’s goal of reducing gas flaring, promoting environmental sustainability, and advancing its position in the global energy landscape. Accurate measurement technology is pivotal in achieving these objectives.