Abstract
There exists a wide energy supply/demand gap in Nigeria. The local generation of electricity meets only 31% of the demand of 10000 MW. By contrast, only 39.6% of the total installed capacity for electricity generation is achieved, owing to aging infrastructure, etc. The energy demand/supply pattern and infrastructure critically reviewed thus suggested the need to increase the electricity generation capacity. Furthermore, Nigeria flares 77% of her associated natural gas. Apart from the environmental penalties that flaring represents, in monetary terms, over the 110 years' life of Nigeria's gas reserves, a conservative estimate of the cost of the gas so-flared was $330 billion (based on $20/barrel average price of crude). It was safely inferred that the way forward in meeting the country's energy demand should include a strong element of gas utilization. In previous publications by this group, it was established that while domestic cooking could reduce the flared gas by about 5.4%, a cohesive policy on associated gas use for electricity generation could eliminate gas flaring.
For domestic utilization of the associated gas, burner design and safety concerns were identified as the key challenges to overcome. The paper reports the effectiveness of odorizers in leakage detection/ prevention by the local consumers. It also discusses the issue of prevention of gas explosions. The previous cases of gas accidents were reviewed. The safety approaches proffered in the paper identified the relevant areas of research for safe delivery and consumption of natural gas in Nigeria.
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